‘Okay, okay, I guess they’re all a bit too cutesy. What about Sky-Glider?’

The ShobGobble wobbled his head and made a rumbling sort of sound as if to say, ‘So-so.’

‘I know! What about . . . Quicksilver?’

He gave a long definite chirp of approval.

‘Okay, Quicksilver, that’s your name. It’s very nice to meet you, Quicksilver.’

They were now headed across a vast snowy white plain. Nicola was glad that signs for the Valley of High Hopes kept appearing at regular intervals.

She turned to check on the others. Shimlara had her head close to her ShobGobble’s ear as if she was deep in conversation. Sean seemed to be trying to encourage his to rise up on its hind legs, as if he was doing a wheelie on a bike, but his ShobGobble was studiously ignoring his efforts. Tyler already looked like he’d been riding ShobGobbles all his life. At the end of the line was Greta. She was sitting very straight and stiff in her saddle, but at least she was moving in the right direction.

Nicola turned back to the front and Quicksilver tossed his head as if to say, ‘Look!’

They were passing a village. A crowd of dirty-faced children came running when they heard the sound of hooves. This time Nicola looked closely at them and saw their clothes were threadbare and their bare feet were turning blue in the snow. Nicola thought of the crackling fires and hot baths at Enrico’s mansion. No wonder Topaz thought these children’s parents should be paid for their hard work!

She noticed that the ground was beginning to slope downwards and snow-laden trees were starting to appear. The next sign they passed said:

  5 VALLEY OF HIGH HOPES

The ground became even steeper and Nicola had to lean further and further back in her saddle to avoid falling off. She could hear little shrieks of horror from Greta.

A few minutes later they came to an arched sign that read:

YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE VALLEY OF HIGH HOPES
We HOPE you enjoy your visit!
We HOPE you do not leave behind your litter!
We HOPE you enjoy the flowers but do not pick them!

‘Those numbers on the signs meant the number of minutes it takes to get somewhere,’ said Tyler, looking with satisfaction at his watch. He scratched his head. ‘Although how do they know how fast you’re travelling?’

‘I just thought of something.’ Sean looked very serious.

‘What?’ Nicola’s heart sank at the thought of yet another problem.

‘We never had breakfast.’

Nicola rolled her eyes. ‘We’ll find somewhere with indigo berries for the ShobGobbles and we’ll have brunch.’

‘What’s brunch?’ asked Shimlara. Sometimes they all forgot she came from another planet.

‘It’s like a mixture of breakfast and lunch,’ said Greta in a superior tone. ‘You have it mid-morning.’