Cold air whooshed over Red, Rapunzel, Anansi and Jack as they flew above the moonlit clouds. Betsy was hidden under Jack’s jumper, letting out a quiet ‘What’ every now and again. Although Betsy was a bird, it turned out she had a terrible fear of flying.

Ella, Wilf and Anansi’s mother had come too, and they were all sitting comfortably on the back of the dragon as it flew over the sea between the mainland and Squirrel–Nose Island. After Wilf had pulled the splinter out of the dragon’s foot and set her free, she had been more than happy to fly them all to Tale Town. Cole flew alongside, like a bright blue shooting star.

Red glanced down at the witch’s necklace clutched in her hands – she didn’t like holding it, but she also really didn’t want to drop it. After all, the witch had said that the necklace could break the curse on Anansi’s family.

They just needed to find out how.

Less than half an hour later, the dragon flew down into the woods just south of Tale Town. Rapunzel had pointed out that landing a massive dragon with a troll on its back at night in the middle of town would have raised a few questions, as well as a lot of spears, so they’d decided it was best to stay undercover.

During the journey, Red had asked Cole to fly on ahead and see if he could find Anansi’s uncle Rufaro and bring him to meet them. Rufaro had spent the last year trying to work out how to break the curse that had turned him and Anansi’s mother into trolls. Perhaps he might know what to do with the necklace?

As soon as they were on the ground, everyone slipped off the dragon’s broad back, but when Wilf went to climb down, the dragon made such a sad sound that Wilf paused.

‘You want me to stay?’ he asked quietly.

The dragon started doing something that seemed very much like purring; although she purred so hard that the ground shook and a nearby tree fell over. Dragons don’t really do quiet purring.

‘Looks like Destiny’s takin’ me elsewhere, missy,’ Wilf said to Red with a smile.

‘OK,’ replied Red. ‘But you’re welcome to come back any time. I’m sure my dad would be happy to have another woodsman around.’

‘Will do,’ said Wilf. ‘And listen, if you ever need help – just send a message and me and Destiny will be there in a flash. Ain’t that right, Destiny?’

The dragon nodded and nuzzled her huge head into Red, knocking her off her feet, before springing into the sky on her powerful legs.

Within seconds she and Wilf were just a tiny dot against the moon, and then they were gone.

Ella looked around the dark forest and said, ‘So . . . what now?’

‘Now we wait for Rufaro,’ said Red. ‘And hope that he knows how to use this thing!’ She held up the necklace, being careful to not touch any of the more horrible-looking things on it.

‘How to use what?’ called a deep voice from the undergrowth.

Cole burst out from the leaves like a blue firework, followed seconds later by Rufaro.

‘Ruffy!’ shouted Anansi’s mum as she rushed forward to hug her brother. There was a booming crash as the two trolls collided.

‘Adeola!’ exclaimed Rufaro, swinging his sister around and knocking down another tree. ‘It’s so good to see you!’ Then Rufaro caught his nephew’s eye. ‘Hello there, Anansi. What have you lot been up to now?’ He looked at the necklace that Red was holding out and frowned. ‘And where did you get that?’

‘It’s a long story . . .’ said Red.

‘It usually is!’ replied Rufaro with a grin. ‘Have you any idea what that thing actually is?’

‘Well I know that it belonged to a witch – you know, a properly wicked one,’ said Red. ‘And I know that she thought it would be powerful enough to break your curse – I heard her say so.’

Rufaro nodded slowly. ‘Yes . . . it’s full of dark magic,’ he said hesitantly. ‘Dangerous magic . . .’

‘But would it work?’ interrupted Anansi.

‘Well . . .’ said Rufaro.

‘Well?’

Rufaro sighed heavily. ‘Possibly, yes. But I have no idea what the side effects would be. This sort of magic can all be a bit . . .’ He stopped and placed a heavy hand on Anansi’s shoulder. ‘Just don’t get your hopes up too much, OK?’

‘But you’ll try it?’ asked Anansi, his eyes gleaming.

‘I’ll try it.’

‘Now?’

‘Now,’ replied Rufaro. ‘Just give me a moment. And you lot –’ he gestured to the children – ‘you all stand back. I have no idea what’s going to happen next.’

Rufaro took the necklace from Red and moved out into the middle of the clearing. Then he snapped a thin branch off a tree and drew lots of strange magical shapes on the forest floor.

‘How do you know all this stuff?’ asked Anansi quietly.

Rufaro sighed. ‘You know I said that when it came to fixing this curse I’d leave no stone unturned?’

Anansi nodded.

‘Well, I learned all this looking under one of those stones,’ said Rufaro. ‘A particularly nasty stone. Now, Adeola, are you ready?’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ said Anansi’s mum. She turned to walk towards her brother. Then she stopped and ran back towards Anansi, gathering him up into her arms. ‘Just in case anything goes wrong,’ she said smiling, even as a tear trickled down her cheek, ‘I love you so much!’

‘I know, Mum,’ replied Anansi. ‘You too.’

Adeola smiled as she let her son go and walked towards Rufaro who was placing the necklace in the middle of the shapes he’d drawn on the floor. He directed Adeola to stand in the centre of one circle while he stood in another. His face was pale and tight as he muttered a few words under his breath.

For a moment nothing happened. Everybody waited, tense and nervous.

Then, with the sound of fabric tearing, a thin ring of smoke shot out from the necklace and started spinning in a circle, growing bigger until it covered Rufaro, Adeola and all the magical symbols on the ground.

Through the smoke Red could just about see the outlines of Anansi’s mum and uncle, but they looked fuzzy and unclear. The tearing sound continued, getting louder and louder until without warning it stopped. The cloud of smoke was swiftly sucked back into the necklace which flared with a black light and vanished – leaving behind nothing but a small cloud of cold blue mist, and two very surprised-looking people wearing clothes that were far too big for them.

‘Mum!’ yelled Anansi running forward. ‘It’s you, it really is you!’