Back at home I got ready for bed. Mum came in to say goodnight, bringing the beady-eyed ferrets with her. They squirmed in her arms, trying to jump loose, and I wondered if they could smell Flicker’s smoky breath in the air. I’d have to make sure my door stayed firmly shut. Next came Dad, ready to ‘wrap and roll’. His tuck-ins were legendary, leaving us ‘as snug as a bug in a rug’, all cocooned in quilt. But tonight, after he’d left, I wriggled out of my mummified state and sat at my desk, staring out of the window. Flicker flew over to join me. He laid his wing over my hand, then nudged my fingers so he could tuck his head under them. He peeked out and I smiled as I felt his comforting warmth on my hand.

But it didn’t stop the mess of thoughts tangling themselves up in my head. Liam was up to something. I was sure of it. Which meant it was more important than ever that we had a way of training the dragons, to make sure things didn’t get too out of hand.

Out of the window all I could see was fog. If I was in a book, I bet Miss Logan would say the weather was mirroring my head. Showing how unclear my thoughts were and how I was lost in a fog of confusion.

‘What am I going to do, Flicker?’ I whispered.

I stared out, willing the fog to clear inside my head as well as out there in the garden.

‘We need something to help us. What is it that dragons love?’

Flicker started wriggling frantically. I looked down and he sent out a spray of sparks that shook me out of my daydream. He rubbed his head along the back of my hand. I smiled.

‘It’d be easier if the others were like you. You’re no bother. But they’re all getting to be more of a handful. I just wish I could think of something. I feel like everyone’s relying on me to come up with a brilliant idea.’

Flicker nudged my hand, then launched up into the air. He circled above me, sending sparks raining down, then began zipping back and forth across the room. Something seemed to have got him riled up and I wondered if one of the ferrets had sneaked back in. But the door was still shut. Then he moved from sparks to blasting out fiery breaths that would have rivalled Sunny’s. He dived down and incinerated the crumpled pieces of paper from my maths homework.

‘Hey, stop that,’ I hissed.

But he ignored me and simply grabbed another ball of paper in his claws. He swung it up and I watched it ignite under another fiery breath. This time he flicked his tail through the debris, scattering ash into the air. It drifted down onto me. I batted it away crossly and scooped up the remaining balls of paper, shoving them into a drawer out of his reach. But Flicker just set to work on one of my comics, shredding strips off it and blasting them to ash.

What on earth was he doing? Maybe I’d been wrong about Flicker being less trouble than the others after all!

‘Enough already,’ I sighed.

He landed on my bookshelf and I scooped him up.

‘Can we just go to sleep?’ I said. ‘Maybe it’ll be like Dad says and my brain will come up with the answer while I dream.’

Flicker’s scales shimmered bright red as I curled up in bed and tucked him in next to me. I really hoped Dad was right. I drifted off to sleep with Flicker’s eyes twinkling up at me.

In my dream I was flying. High up in the clouds through a purple sky. Green and turquoise light swept in brilliant waves all around me. Below were mountains, rock and snow and ice. I spotted waterfalls and crystal blue lagoons and cracks in the ground where fire boiled and bubbled below the surface. I swooped low, skimming over geysers with their jets of water bursting out and traced the curve of glaciers that creaked and sighed in their ancient voices. On and on I flew, until I saw the looming shape of a volcano. And I knew this was the place I had been seeking.

The air was full of ash. And when I reached it, I circled above the crater, faster and faster. In a dizzying dance.

I opened my eyes and flung off the covers as if the heat of the volcano was real. Next to me Flicker was pulsing red and orange. A fiery glow in the darkness of my room.