Nicola realised with a start that she hadn’t actually been having that rather depressing conversation in her own head with herself. There was a real person somewhere nearby!

She twisted her head around in the direction of the voice. It was a girl speaking. A girl with a blocked-up nose. ‘All that work has been for nothing. NOTHING! Achoo! I may as well have just stayed in bed! Achoo! Everything is just pointless and stupid and I can’t stop sneezing! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!’

Finally Nicola saw someone just over her left shoulder.

Obviously this girl wasn’t afraid of heights because she was sitting right on the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling, sneezing into a huge hanky. She was wearing only a plain sleeveless tunic that left her thin white arms and legs bare. Her head was uncovered and her hair was a sodden mess. It made Nicola shiver just looking at her. She found herself thinking in her mother’s voice, For heaven’s sake! You’re going to catch pneumonia dressed like that!

‘Um, excuse me?’ called out Nicola.

The girl blew her nose hard and continued talking angrily to herself. ‘I may as well just move off this stupid planet and find somewhere else to live. I’ll go spend a year backpacking around Earth! Achoo! I may as well. Nobody – achoo! – appreciates – achoo! – me anyway!’

Nicola’s ball rolled forward again and this time it seemed like it would roll over for sure. Could her bubble-jacket protect her twice? It seemed unlikely. She panicked.

‘EXCUSE ME! I THINK I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP OUT OF THIS THING!’

The girl looked up suddenly.

‘Oh!’ she said. ‘I didn’t see you there. Sorry. Did you come over on one of those hot-air balloons? They’ve really got to stop flying during hurricanes.’

She blew her nose one more time and stood up. ‘Here. Let me help you.’ As she walked towards Nicola she gave her a friendly sort of grimace. ‘I guess you’re not having a great day either.’

‘Not really,’ admitted Nicola.

The girl had that characteristic round rosy Shobbling face, snub freckled nose and round blue eyes, but there was something else familiar about her. It couldn’t be her, could it? After all this time? Standing right here in front of her, shivering and sniffing?

‘I’m Topaz,’ said the girl. ‘Topaz Silverbell.’

30

Topaz looked at Nicola expectantly, waiting for her to introduce herself.

‘Well, hi there!’ said Nicola brightly. ‘Am I glad to see you! At first I thought I was talking to myself!’

Oh, dear, Nicola thought. I’m babbling. But if Topaz thought that Nicola had been sent to kill her, wasn’t there a chance she might just push Nicola off the cliff as soon as she said her name?

Topaz raised an eyebrow. ‘And you are . . .?’