There was no time to waste. Topaz had to be found at once.
16
Tyler, an early riser like Nicola, was already on the front steps of the mansion when Nicola got there, stamping his feet to keep warm.
Nicola gave him a nudge on the shoulder to say hello, then looked up at the rainbows soaring above them. At this time of the morning the light wasn't too bright and you didn't need sunglasses to appreciate the colour-splashed snowy landscape. She took a deep breath. Something about all this beauty made her feel stronger.
'Did you sleep okay?' she asked.
'Not really. I was worrying about Katie and then when I did finally get to sleep I dreamed that Enrico put our spaceship into the washing machine on the maxi-wash cycle.' Tyler rubbed his eyes. 'I woke up screaming.'
The front door of the mansion opened and Shimlara and Greta appeared together, both pulling their backpacks over their shoulders, running fingers through their messy hair and yawning.
'I had such bad dreams,' said Shimlara. 'I kept dreaming that Enrico was offering me tall glasses of lemonade to burn my tongue.'
Greta looked around irritably. 'I see Sean isn't here yet.'
'I hope he's not still asleep,' said Nicola, thinking about the times her dad had resorted to spraying Sean with a water pistol to try and wake him up for school.
There was a clip-clopping sound. Silent Fred and Joy came walking down the driveway, leading five ShobGobbles by their reins. Two scowling Security Thugs stomped behind them.
'I hope the ShobGobbles are easy to ride,' said Nicola. She'd only been on a horse once before.
'Good morning, Space Brigade,' said Joy. She was speaking much more formally than the night before, obviously conscious of the Security Thugs listening to her every word. 'These are your ShobGobbles. They're fresh out of training school and haven't been given names yet. You're welcome to name them yourselves.'
She pointed at the large saddlebags slung across the ShobGobbles' broad backs. 'You'll find plenty of provisions for your journey.'
Shimlara stroked the glossy feathers of the nearest ShobGobble. 'What do they eat?'
Silent Fred held up his board. It said: Indigo berries. He'd sketched a little picture that looked like a bunch of misshapen grapes.
'They grow wherever the rainbows shine indigo light,' said Joy. Silent Fred handed each of them a large white feather about the size of a cricket bat.
'ShobGobbles are very sensitive,' said Joy. 'You just brush your feather-whip very gently against their sides.'
Silent Fred was still holding out one last feather. 'Oh,' said Joy, looking around. 'Where is -'
The mansion doors opened and Sean came skidding down the steps towards them.
'Sorry I'm late,' he said. 'I had the worst night's sleep. My room was between Tyler's and Shimlara's. Tyler kept waking me up yelling something weird like, "At least use the GENTLE cycle!" and Shimlara kept screaming, "But I'm NOT thirsty!"'
'Sorry,' said Shimlara and Tyler together. 'Bad dreams.'
'Now you have your maps?' said Joy. She glanced at the Thugs and put on a ferocious voice: 'So you can track down that evil, horrible, nasty girl, Topaz Silverbell!'
Silent Fred discreetly handed Joy his blackboard. Nicola saw that it said: No need to overdo it, love. He rubbed it out quickly while Joy looked embarrassed.
'Yes, we've got our maps.' Nicola patted her top pocket. She'd studied the map for ages trying to work out the fastest, easiest way to reach Topaz.
'I've worked out the best way to get there,' said Greta. She pulled out her own map and Nicola saw she'd drawn a series of neat little arrows across it. 'We head east through the Forest of Thwarted Dreams, cross the Raging River at the Touch-and-Go Bridge, then travel west towards Treachery Bay and directly north across the Perilous Sea to the foothills of the Cloud-Capped Mountain.'
'Uh, okay . . .' said Nicola uncertainly. She knew that Greta was much better at geography than anyone else in the group, but some of those places sounded pretty unpleasant. She took a deep breath. 'I was planning for us to head west through the Valley of High Hopes, cross the Raging River at the Safe Hands Bridge, then go east through the Sweet Dream Swamplands and south across the Honey Sea to the foothills of the Cloud-Capped Mountain.'
'That would take much longer!' scoffed Greta.
'Yes, but Nicola's way would actually get you there,' said Joy. 'Nobody ever makes it through the Forest of Thwarted Dreams. They always have to turn around and come back. That's why it's called Thwarted Dreams.'
'Well, I don't even know what that stupid word "thwarted" means,' muttered Greta. 'It sounds like wart!'