Nicola’s heart did a cartwheel. ‘Quicksilver!’ she cried and ran over to bury her face in his feathery mane. Quicksilver chirruped and butted Nicola gently with his head, his three eyes filled with such warmth and wisdom that Nicola’s own eyes filled with happy tears. ‘I missed you! I’m so glad to see you!’

As she caressed him, she found a small white envelope under his saddle. She opened it and read:

Dearest Nicola,
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for reuniting me with my family. Although the back of my head is still aching somewhat from where my beloved wife gave me a well-deserved slap when she first saw me, I am blissfully happy. It turns out that my family can’t even remember the details of our argument. They are just cross with me for disappearing. (Of course, I can remember the details and I remain convinced that I was in the right, but I think it might be prudent to keep that to myself.)

My granddaughter Barbie tells me that you suffered a Biter wound while crossing the Raging River. I do hope it is not giving you too much pain.

The entire Banks family would like to be of service to you in any way they can. For example, it may interest you to know that we once owned a thriving business called BANKS BEAUTIFUL BUTTONS. We still have a lot of old stock available and it occurred to me that you might find it useful.

Also, Barbie happened to be in the Why Not Drop Inn stables today where she found your ShobGobbles sleeping. She gave them some Wake-UpBiotics and we thought you might like them returned to you.

Yours sincerely,

Horatio Banks

PS You may be wondering how we obtained this address. Barbie’s mother went to school with a lady who plays Shobble-Ball with a lady who is in a recipe swap club with a lady who lives next door to Topaz’s mother – and she was able to pass on Topaz’s details. So her security is not in any way compromised. Topaz’s mother asked if you could please ask Topaz and Joshua to bundle up tomorrow and keep their ears covered, as the wind can be so cold this time of year.

‘Shobgobby!’ Nicola looked up from Horatio’s note to see Shimlara running out from the cave.

She was followed by Tyler calling out fondly, ‘Fleet-foot!’ and Sean hollering, ‘Lethal Weapon!’ Even Greta hurried out and said, ‘Hey, you!’ to her ShobGobble.

Topaz, Serena and Joshua were busy opening the boxes that Horatio had sent.

‘Buttons!’ called out Joshua. He lifted up a handful of chunky brightly coloured buttons and let them fall through his fingers.

‘Thousands and thousands of extremely SCARY buttons!’ cried Topaz and Serena, plunging their hands deep into the boxes.

‘Well, you folks seem pretty happy with your delivery,’ said the courier. ‘I’ll be on my way.’