‘All right, students,’ Miss Spinnaker calls, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention. ‘I hope you’ve all brought a snack with you? You have twenty minutes to eat something and go to the toilet. We will then meet at the front entrance to catch the bus back to school. Is everyone clear on what we are doing?’

‘Yes, Miss Spinnaker,’ the students chorus, dashing off in different directions to make the most of this last moment of freedom.

‘Stay with your partners!’ Miss Spinnaker calls after them, but Polly doesn’t need to be told twice. She’s not letting Malorie out of her sight.

‘Let’s go to the bathrooms downstairs,’ says Malorie, when they see the queue in front of the witches’ toilets.

She grabs Polly’s hand, and they walk to the stairs as fast as they can without actually running. Once they are in the stairwell, Malorie pulls Polly into a run and they race down the steps, two by two.

Polly giggles with the excitement of dashing around the gallery with her new almost-friend.

‘Oh!’ Malorie says, stopping so suddenly that Polly crashes into her. ‘Monsters!’

Polly peers over Malorie’s shoulder and sees the huddle of Darklands monsters moving towards them, clipboards in hand.

‘Let’s go back upstairs,’ she tells Malorie urgently.

‘No!’ says Malorie. ‘We were here first!’

She grabs Polly’s hand again and strides forwards, dragging Polly behind her. When they reach the group, Polly puts her head down and fixes her eyes to the floor.

Malorie boldly pushes her way through the grumbling monsters, keeping Polly close behind. They are nearly through the group and out the other side when Polly hears a familiar voice.

‘Polly!’

Her heart sinks.

She turns just for a second to look over her shoulder, and there is Buster, waving gleefully at her. ‘Polly! Hey, Polly! Over here! Hi!’

She glares at him, but Buster doesn’t seem to understand.

‘Do you know that monster?’ Malorie says. She sounds horrified.

‘No! Of course not!’ Polly mumbles.

‘He knows your name,’ Malorie says, looking at Polly curiously.

‘I don’t know him, OK?’ Polly insists. ‘He lives next door, that’s all. He must have heard my mum calling me or something. I don’t know!’

She feels anger flare up in her. How dare Buster embarrass her like this in public! She glares at him again.

This time he understands, and Polly sees his face fall.

Oh no! she thinks suddenly. Not here, Buster. Please don’t!

But even as she watches, she sees Buster begin to change colour, and shrink. The other monsters stop what they are doing and gather around Buster, watching his strange transformation in confusion.

‘Come on!’ Polly tells Malorie angrily. ‘Miss Spinnaker will be waiting.’

She hears Buster’s voice call out behind her, small and wavering, but she is already striding away, her heart pounding in her chest.

In the bathrooms, while Malorie is in the toilet, Polly splashes her face with water at the sink. Polly is usually pale, but now she looks white as milk.

‘What was with that monster?’ Malorie calls out from the cubicle. ‘Acting like you guys were friends or something? Ew. Imagine!’

‘I know!’ says Polly, a little too loudly.

She closes her eyes and tries to calm her breathing. That was so close. For the first time ever, Polly feels like she might actually be making a real witch friend. And Buster nearly ruined everything! How dare he? He knows they are meant to ignore each other in public.

Polly feels so angry with him.

‘Come on,’ Malorie says, washing her hands at the sink beside Polly. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’d better get back to the bus or we’ll be late.’

She puts her hand on Polly’s shoulder, and Polly feels a glimmer of happiness creep back into her.

They step out of the bathroom. Polly is moving towards the front entrance when she hears a terrible sound.

It’s the sound of monsters teasing and taunting, roaring and jeering. And underneath all that noise is a long, low groaning that wrenches at her heart.

‘Buster!’ Polly cries.

She can’t help it. Buster is hurt! She just knows it. She feels it right in her bones. Polly rushes over and pushes two big monsters to one side to see what is going on.

Buster is curled up on the hard floor in a tiny grey ball.

Polly has never seen him so small and so grey. It’s as if every last bit of light has been squeezed out of him, and all that’s left is a hard mass of grey fur, twisted and dry as a dishcloth.

All around him, monsters jeer and taunt.

‘Look at him!’ they laugh, prodding him with their great hairy feet.

‘Stop it!’ Polly yells. ‘Leave him alone!’

Buster sees Polly, and she watches as he begins to turn a hopeful shade of pale pink.

No, Buster! Polly thinks, but she knows he can’t help it.

This colour change in Buster only makes the monsters around him more excited. They tease him even louder than before.

‘Look at him! Look at Buster changing colour when he sees the witch. Buster loves the witch. Look at Buster! He’s turning pink!’

Buster squeezes his eyes shut. A last wheeze escapes from him and he shrinks even more.

‘Stop it!’ Polly screams. ‘Stop it! You’re hurting him!’

The monsters jeer louder. ‘The witch loves the monster! The monster loves the witch!’

Their cries are so loud that Polly begins to feel her head FIZZ. She shuts her eyes and covers her ears with her hands to try to block out the noise, but the sound in her head just gets louder and louder. Soon it’s as if her whole brain is roaring,

loud as an ocean.

Her skin

prickles and her

blood burns hot.

Before she can stop herself, her arms fly upwards and a shower of sparks shoot from her fingertips.

She feels an electric jolt snap through her. When she opens her eyes, the huddle of monsters has been flung against the far walls of the gallery. They hang there, flattened and panting, eyes goggling in fear.

A shocked silence settles over the gallery.

Polly leans over and pulls Buster to his feet. She hears herself ask if he is OK, before her legs give way beneath her, and the room swirls into black.