There was a gasp of horror from the crowd.
'But Enrico wouldn't do such a terrible thing,' said the woman with the cake. 'Especially not to a lovely hairity.' She looked at the others. 'Would he?'
A camera flashed and a microphone was shoved in Nicola's face. An intense-looking woman said, 'What's your name?'
'Nicola Berry.'
'Nicola, why has Katie Hobbs been taken hostage?'
Nicola decided she shouldn't reveal any more. 'You'll have to ask Enrico that. I have no further comment.'
She tapped her feather-whip against her ShobGobble as briskly as she dared. 'We have to go!'
'Wait, wait!' called the reporter breathlessly, running alongside Nicola's ShobGobble. As she ran, the breeze lifted the hair on her forehead and Nicola caught a glimpse of the letter 't' - a Topaz supporter! She pushed a card into Nicola's hand. 'Contact me if you ever want to talk.'
Nicola managed to shove the card into her jeans pocket. She twisted her head and saw that her announcement had created something of an uproar. People were gesturing angrily, stamping their feet and raising their palms high above their heads.
She hoped she hadn't made a terrible mistake and put Katie in more danger.
Her ShobGobble cantered along smoothly ahead of the others, as if he knew where he was going. Nicola squinted her eyes through the rainbows and saw another sign.
24 VALLEY OF HIGH HOPES
'That's right! That's where we're going,' she said out loud. She realised she hadn't named her ShobGobble yet. She said, 'Well done, um, Shobby!'
Her ShobGobble flattened his ears and gave a disapproving snort.
'Oh, you don't like that. Let me think of something better. What about . . . Gobby Boy?'
He gave an even louder snort.
'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