Flax managed to squeak, ‘Y-yes. You’re a d-dragon.’

‘THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT,’ said Rose.

She stomped around the cell again. Flax glimpsed the edge of a wing. A long neck thrust through a torn coat. The end of a scaly tail.

The pup put his paws over his eyes.

‘I DON’T LIKE THIS CELL,’ said Rose.

She stomped over to the door. Her head tilted one way, then the other.

She stuck the tip of a claw into the lock, and pulled.

The door tore away from its hinges and fell to the ground with a clang.

‘OOPS,’ said Rose.

She picked up the door and tossed it to one side. Then she ducked her head and stomped out of the cell and along the tunnel.

Flax and the pup crept out from beneath the bed and followed her.

‘Where’s she going?’ whispered Flax.

‘I don’t know,’ said the pup. He hiccuped. ‘I think there was something wrong with the icing, Flax. I think there was ^hic magic in it.’

She stopped. ‘Will you be all right?’

‘I expect so. Spellhounds can eat ^hic most things.’

Rose marched down the tunnel and around several corners. Flax and the pup hurried after her.

And there was the cavern with the other cells, and Uncle Edwin leaping to his feet with a cry of, ‘Felicia!’

Rose stomped up to her uncle’s cell door and hooked her claw into the lock.

Flax leapt forward in horror. ‘No! No, Rose, he’s a dragon!’

‘SO AM I,’ said Rose. And she tore the door off its hinges and tossed it away.

To Flax’s relief, Uncle Edwin didn’t immediately leap out of his cell and kill them all.

Instead, he sank onto his bed with his head in his hands. ‘It is no use,’ he said. ‘While I wear this collar, I cannot step outside the cell. Not without permission from—’

The rest of his words vanished. Rose said, ‘NOT WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM AUNT DELILAH?’

Her uncle nodded.

Rose marched into his cell. She stuck her claws inside the iron collar and tried to wrench it apart. When that didn’t work, she tried to bite it off, and nearly bit her uncle in the process.

‘AAARGH!’ she growled. ‘WHY CAN’T I DO IT?’

‘It’s magicked,’ said the teaspoon. ‘I can smell it from here.’

‘Shh!’ hissed Flax.

But she was too late. Rose stared at the teaspoon. ‘IF YOU WERE A KEY, YOU COULD UNLOCK IT.’

‘Not a chance,’ said the teaspoon. ‘It’ll be mouldy horse droppings all over again.’

‘BUT IF FLAX USED HER LAST THREAD OF MAGIC … ’

Flax clutched her satchel. ‘No. Your uncle’s a dragon, Rose. He’s dangerous.’

‘THAT’S THE POINT,’ said Rose. ‘MAYBE HE’S DANGEROUS ENOUGH TO STOP AUNT DELILAH.’

She turned back to her uncle. ‘COULD YOU STOP HER?’

‘I do not know,’ he said. ‘I have been her prisoner for so long. I think I could, but I am not sure.’

Rose stared at Flax across the cavern. ‘SOON THE PUP’S PARENTS WILL CALL A STORM, AND AUNT DELILAH WILL STEAL THE MAGIC FROM YOUR HOME.’

‘I know,’ whispered Flax.

‘WE MUST STOP HER.’

Flax swallowed. With a shaking hand, she raised the teaspoon. ‘If – if we used my last thread, could you unlock the collar?’

‘It won’t be enough,’ said the teaspoon. ‘The thread’s too small and the magic’s too strong.’

‘Not,’ said Flax, looking up at the pup, ‘if we could make the thread bigger … ’