No one said a word.
Nicola felt her shoulders sag. There was something about the sudden unexpected silence that was extremely relaxing. She looked at her friends and the rich colours flickering across their faces. If only Katie were here this would be one of those perfect memories that Nicola could store away in her mind ready to pull out next time she was stuck in a boring maths lesson.
Beneath them Shimlara's angry fans and Philippe ran around in circles like furious ants.
Shimlara removed her cap. Her hair blew wild and curly in the breeze. Everyone smiled when they saw it and Shimlara chuckled. 'Guess I'm just a dirty commoner like the rest of you.'
'Did you like being a hairity?' asked Nicola curiously. It was a relief to see Shimlara looking like herself again.
'It was weird,' said Shimlara. 'It sort of went to my head in the beginning. I thought I really was amazing just because everyone was treating me that way.'
'It went to your head, did it?' said Sean, innocently. 'Wow. I couldn't tell at all.'
'Okay, I know I went overboard. But even though I sort of loved it, it made me feel kind of lonely too. I missed being me.'
'We missed you being you too,' said Tyler.
He licked his finger and held it outside the balloon.
'What are you doing?' asked Greta.
'I'm checking which way the wind is blowing.'
'So how does licking your finger tell you that?'
'I don't know,' admitted Tyler. 'My dad does it before he puts up the beach umbrella. It seemed like the right thing to do.' He adjusted the burner of the balloon slightly and peered out over the edge of the basket. 'Anyway, it looks like we're heading in the right direction at the moment. Look. That's the Cloud-Capped Mountain.' He pointed towards the dramatic outline of a craggy mountain silhouetted crisply against a bright blue sky.
Nicola said, 'We're lucky with the weather. It's a beautiful day.'
'Yes.' Shimlara squinted thoughtfully up at the blue sky. 'Although don't forget what Philippe said.'
Nicola had forgotten. 'What did he say?'
'Hey!' At that moment a gust of cold air blew Greta's hat straight off her head and whipped it away.
Nicola watched the cap being whirled this way and that and suddenly she remembered all too clearly what Philippe had said: They've forecast a minor hurricane . . .
She said cheerily, 'At least they aren't forecasting a major -' She gulped on the word 'hurricane' as another gust of wind rocked the balloon and knocked her hard against Greta.
'Watch it,' said Greta automatically, but she, like the rest of the Space Brigade, was frowning up at the huge banks of heavy grey cloud rolling rapidly across the sky like ocean waves. There was a deep rumble of thunder and a sudden spatter of icy rain against the fabric of the balloon.
'This doesn't look good,' said Tyler. There were specks of water on his glasses. He brushed them away impatiently.
'It's turned extra cold.' Shimlara shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
Directly above them was a patch of bright blue sky like the leftover piece of a completely different day.
'How are we going to fly this thing through a hurricane? We shouldn't have left Philippe behind,' said Greta crossly, as if she hadn't been bashing his knuckles with her shoe just five minutes before.
'All we've got to do is stay in the eye of the hurricane,' said Sean. 'I saw it in a movie. That's where you're safe.'
'Oh, is that all? Well then, we shouldn't have a problem!' Tyler didn't normally sound irritable and sarcastic. He must be frightened, thought Nicola.
They were in a hot-air balloon with a hurricane sweeping towards them. It really couldn't get much worse than this. For some reason, instead of crying, Nicola started to laugh.
'What's so funny?' snapped Greta. 'This isn't funny! There is nothing funny about this at all!'
That only made Nicola laugh harder.