The next day, all anyone could talk about was the shipwreck. Red, Jack, Rapunzel, Anansi and Betsy were walking to the beach to see if anything exciting had washed up.

Red shuddered. ‘I’m glad everyone made it back to shore,’ she said. ‘It must have been terrifying!’

‘I know!’ exclaimed Rapunzel, stroking her incredibly long plaits. ‘Imagine having to wash all that salt water out of your hair!’

‘That’s not exactly what I meant . . .’ began Red, but before she had a chance to finish, Old Bert wheeled his cart round the corner.

Red groaned. She didn’t like seafood at the best of times, and Old Bert’s seafood-snack cart smelled very fishy.

‘Mornin’, small fry!’ Old Bert said with a toothy grin. ‘Which of me salty snacks will you be ’avin’ today?’

Red looked around and realized her friends had vanished as quickly as Old Bert had appeared. She could see Jack’s feet poking out from underneath a bush, while Betsy was pretending to be the figurehead on a boat.

‘The thing is . . .’ replied Red, ‘I’ve only just had breakfast, so I’m, er, kind of full.’

Old Bert chuckled. ‘Always room for a pot of me finest squid rings!’ he said, pulling out a grubby jar.

‘ Ewwww!’ exclaimed Red. ‘I mean, erm . . . I’ve not got enough money.’

Bert’s eyes narrowed. ‘Well, I do ’ave some old fish tails going cheap – not even rotten yet – ’ow many d’yer want?’

‘Yes . . . but . . . I’m allergic to fish tails!’

‘Really?’ asked Bert, his needle-sharp eyes boring into her. ‘Just last week I sold you eight of ’em!’

‘I know!’ continued Red, shivering at the memory. ‘I think that was what did it.’

A cunning smile stretched across Bert’s face. ‘As it happens I’m also sellin’ ice cream today,’ he said. ‘How does that grab yer?’

‘Really?’ asked Red, ‘Well, I probably could eat an ice cream . . .’

Before Red knew what had happened, all her money was gone, she was holding an ice cream and Old Bert was hobbling off whistling a tuneless sea shanty.

Red stood waiting on the path as, one by one, her friends reappeared.

‘Oh, hello. Nice of you to join me!’ she said, scowling. ‘I know you think Old Bert’s always tricking me into buying some horrid seafood thing, but not today!’ She waved the crumpled ice-cream cone at them triumphantly. ‘So you all missed out!’

‘WHAaAT?’ squawked Betsy, looking suspicious.

‘Oh, come on, Betsy!’ exclaimed Red. ‘Ice cream is ice cream, it’ll be lovely!’

And with that she ripped off the packaging and took a huge bite.

‘GAhhhHhh!’ coughed Red. She looked in horror at the ice cream, over to her friends, and finally at the packaging in her hand. The label was clear for everyone to see:

‘Why would anyone do that?’ cried Red, throwing the ice cream in a bin and scraping at her tongue with her fingernails.

‘Red, Bert always tricks you into buying something, and it’s always horrible,’ said Anansi. ‘Maybe you shouldn’t be so trusting?’

Red glared at him. ‘If I hadn’t trusted you when you first arrived in Tale Town, we wouldn’t all be friends now, would we?’

Anansi looked at her. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘And I’m really glad you did, but –’

‘Hey, look at that!’ Rapunzel interrupted, pointing towards the shoreline.

Bobbing against the sand was a yellow bottle filled with a strange glowing mist. When the children got nearer, the bottle spun around until it was pointing towards them. Then it hopped up out of the sea and started rolling up the beach.

‘Whoa!’ said Red as the bottle came to a stop at their feet. ‘It’s a message in a bottle!’

‘But who’s it for?’ wondered Jack.

They peered at the bottle and the mist inside formed into different shapes, gradually becoming clearer and clearer:

Anansi looked nervous as he bent to pick up the bottle and slowly pulled out the cork. As he did, the beach and his friends faded away. Anansi looked around in confusion. He was up in the crow’s nest of a ship, late at night. Rain fell all around him, but he couldn’t feel a thing. In front of him was a troll that he recognized – it was his mother!

Anansi tried to hug her, but his arms passed right through her.

Anansi’s mother stared straight ahead and spoke quickly:

‘Anansi, my darling! The ship is sinking! I’m close to Tale Town and can see an island that I can swim to – there is a mountain on it that looks like a squirrel’s nose. I’ll meet you there, at the base of the mountain, where the forest ends. Come as soon as you can. I love you, Anansi, stay safe!’

The scene melted away and Anansi found himself back on the beach, surrounded by his friends.

‘Well?’ asked Jack expectantly. ‘What was the message? Who was it from?’

‘My mum,’ said Anansi. ‘And we need to find a boat that’ll take us to Squirrel-Nose Island – right now!’