‘No!’ she cried. There was no way they could make it!

Her ShobGobble ignored her. In one powerful movement he leapt into the air. Nicola closed her eyes, leaned forward and buried her face into the animal’s strange-smelling feathery neck.

Suddenly, the roaring sound in her ears vanished. All she could hear was the sweet chirping of a bird. Nicola opened her eyes and laughed with delight.

‘You can fly!’ she shouted. ‘I didn’t know you could fly!’

Her ShobGobble flapped his huge wings, tilted his head and gave her a humorous look as if to say, What’s all the fuss about, Earthling? I know what I’m doing.

She looked around and saw the other ShobGobbles were also flying over the wall. ‘I just remembered something else about ShobGobbles,’ called Shimlara. ‘They can fly!’

‘Yeah, thanks for the warning!’ Sean called back.

Nicola’s ShobGobble glided to the ground on the other side of the wall. The other ShobGobbles did the same.

‘These animals must be untrained!’ exclaimed Greta, who was trembling. ‘Why did they go so fast? I’d rather walk!’

‘I think maybe we were too hard with our feathers,’ said Tyler.

Everyone protested with comments like, ‘But I barely touched it!’

‘I was last to leave,’ explained Tyler. ‘I heard Joy calling out, “Gentler with your feathers!” Then I heard her say to Silent Fred, “Oh, well, they’ll learn soon enough.”’

‘We should just fly them all the way to the Cloud-Capped Mountain,’ said Sean.

‘They can only fly for short distances,’ said Shimlara. ‘If they fly for too long, they get exhausted and fall asleep in midair. A girl in my class did a project on the ShobGobble. I remember imagining how scary it would be if you suddenly heard your ShobGobble start snoring.’

‘Let’s all spend a few minutes practising our riding,’ said Nicola.

‘But I know I can’t do it, Nicola,’ said Greta. ‘My ShobGobble doesn’t like me. I’m not – I’m not very good with animals.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ said Nicola. ‘It’s like learning anything new. You always think you can’t do it in the beginning. Just give it a go.’

Greta grimaced and didn’t say anything.

Actually, Nicola didn’t know if she would be able to work this out herself. She thought about what Katie would do if she were here. Katie loved animals. She was very calm and respectful with them, as if they were people.

Nicola leaned forward and put her mouth close to her ShobGobble’s ear.

‘Hi there,’ she whispered. ‘My name is Nicola.’

The ShobGobble was quiet. Nicola saw him looking at her shrewdly with his three beautiful eyes. She lifted her feather-whip. Rather than tapping it, she stroked it against his right side as delicately as if she were tickling a baby’s cheek.

Nothing happened. Too soft?