‘Look!’ said Grimaldi, pointing upwards.
‘Pottering pumpkins!’ Amelia cried.
Gerrard was swinging on the poison ivy that grew on the roof. Butler was sitting on the ledge of an open window playing Wooo’s harmonica, and Mo was leaning precariously out of another window, writing (in the most intricate and beautiful lettering) the word ‘BUM’ on the side of the house with glitter paint.
‘GERRARD, BUTLER, MO! Get down from there!’ Amelia called up desperately. ‘It’s dangerous! You could fall!’ She couldn’t believe this was happening, just as she was trying to prove what a brilliant big sister she could be.
Gerrard swung across the house on the vines before launching into one heart-dropping final somersault in mid-air.
Grimaldi fainted, collapsing to the floor amongst the gravestones and a panicked Amelia clung on to Florence’s hairy arm.
But Gerrard flipped neatly into the window where Butler was playing the harmonica. Mo finished up her artwork, signing it with a neat ‘M’ and popped back into the house to join her brothers.
Amelia and Florence breathed a massive sigh of relief and ran inside as fast as they could, dragging a recovering Grimaldi with them.
After racing up and down the spiral staircase, and in and out of various doors, Amelia finally caught the caticorns causing chaos in the kitchen.
Gerrard danced on the freezer, which seemed to be groaning, before slamming it shut and skipping on to a pile of dirty pots and pans. Butler rubbed his paws around the rims of different-sized drinking glasses to make eerie sounds and Mo was creating a very extravagant food sculpture.
Florence managed to gather the excitable caticorns under her arm and take them to the unliving room.
‘Thanks Florence,’ Amelia breathed. She was sweating, which vampires hardly ever did. ‘We have to find a way to calm them all down!’
‘MAYBE WE SHOULD GIVE ’EM SOME PRESENTS FROM THE SUITCASE YOUR AUNT LEFT?’ Florence suggested as Butler (still tucked under Florence’s arm) attempted to use her belly as a drum. ‘STOP THAT, LITTLE FLUFF MONSTER!’ she said sternly.
‘Good idea, Florence,’ said Amelia, opening the suitcase. ‘Look, Gerrard, Butler and Mo! Aunt Lavitora left some surprises for you!’
She passed an oddly shaped package to Gerrard. He ripped it open with his tiny caticorn claws and held up the gift.
Amelia made a weird choking noise.
Florence blurted out a rude word.
‘Wow!’ gasped Grimaldi. ‘It can’t be . . .’
Gerrard held up a VERY glittery unicorn toy, wearing a cape and wings. It was roughly the size of Grimaldi’s head and had a squiggly signature on its cape.
‘Is that . . .’ whispered Grimaldi, who was desperately trying to keep a tube of glitter paint out of Mo’s reach, ‘is that a SIGNED Unicornelius Pine of Rainbow River toy?!’
‘OH MY GOBLINS, THAT IS WELL COOL!’ said Florence. ‘HOW THE BATS DID YOUR AUNT GET THAT?’
‘I can’t even imagine !’ breathed Amelia. ‘It must have cost a squillion pounds!’
‘You are so lucky!’ Grimaldi breathed, floating around in wonder behind Gerrard.
Gerrard glanced at the toy then passed it to Butler, who threw it over to Mo. She shrugged and tossed it to the floor, chipping the unicorn’s wing.
Amelia, Florence and Grimaldi took a sharp breath.
‘That’s NOT a very nice thing to do!’ Amelia tried to sound strict. She wondered if this was how a big sister might deal with the situation. She put her hands on her hips in what she thought was probably a firm, big-sisterly manner.
‘YEAH,’ said Florence. ‘THAT’S NO WAY TO TREAT UNICORNELIUS PINE!’
Gerrard looked at Amelia and then at Florence. His face crumpled and he began to cry. Butler and Mo took one look at Gerrard and began to cry too.
‘ER, OKAY AMELIA,’ said Florence taking a step backwards. ‘THEY’RE ALL LEAKING WATER AN’ I’M NOT SURE WHAT TO DO . . .’
Grimaldi pulled his hood over his eyes. ‘I get anxious when more than two creatures cry at once!’
Amelia gulped. She wasn’t sure what to do. She picked up Unicornelius Pine and waved him around in the air as if he were flying. ‘Hey! I’m Unicornelius Pine, and I’m here to save YOU! ’ she said in a funny deep voice.
But the mewling cries grew louder. ‘Please!’ urged Amelia. ‘There’s no need to cry!’
‘How do we make them stop?’ Grimaldi had almost turned himself inside out in his effort to hide from the escalating noise.
BONG!
The caticorns stopped crying.
‘Yessssss!’ cheered Grimaldi. ‘Saved by the bong!’
Then the caticorns began to cry again, except this time it was much louder with added kicking and screaming.
‘That must be Wooo at the door,’ said Amelia, feeling hopeful. ‘He’ll be able to help calm them down!’
But when Amelia opened the door, it wasn’t the ghost butler waiting on the other side.
Prince Tangine La Floofle the First waltzed into the entrance hall with his arms outstretched. His genetically modified pet pumpkin, Pumpy, PA-DOOFED on to the doormat behind him, causing a great big POOF of dust. Pumpy puffed out his chest, revealing an impressive six-pack.
Amelia sighed.
‘Well, don’t be TOO PLEASED to see me,’ said Tangine, looking dejected.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Amelia, giving her friend a hug. ‘I AM pleased to see you. I was just hoping it was Wooo – we’re waiting for him to come back and we could REALLY do with his help right now.’ Then she paused. ‘I thought you had prince-training this weekend?’
Tangine – half-vampire, half-fairy – was the future king of Nocturnia and made sure everybody knew it. But even though he loved his own face far too much sometimes, he was one of Amelia’s very best friends and always made her smile.
‘Dad ate a bad batch of brain and is feeling sick,’ said Tangine. ‘So, I’m free to play with you guys instead. John the vulture dropped me off !’
The scraggly three-eyed vulture had collapsed in the front yard amongst the weeds. His eyes were looking in three different directions.
‘He’ll be fine,’ said Tangine. ‘So, what’s going on?’
Amelia bit her lip.
‘Well . . . my mum has gone to the infirmary to have the baby and we’re looking after my aunt Lavitora’s caticorns, who are a little trickier to handle than we first thought.’
Prince Tangine raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, I’m sure these caticorns of yours will behave when they meet their FUTURE KING,’ he said confidently . . .
