Fibber shifted. ‘But I – I’ve never seen a rain scroll before. How will I know if I’m doing it right?’
‘There is no right or wrong with painting,’ Goldpaw replied. ‘You just need passion and faith. So paint with everything in you, boy. Paint because your world depends on it.’
Fibber took a deep breath, then he hurried over the bridge of vines that led to the temple. And it was clear, when he arrived, that the Doodlers were expecting him. One handed him a jar of ink while another led him towards a blank canvas.
Fox watched from the bank of the lagoon and felt nothing but pride as Fibber painted his scroll. Gone was the jealousy that had mounted over the years. Gone was the panic that usually rode up inside her whenever she saw Fibber excelling at something. Instead, she simply looked on, with Iggy, Heckle and Total Shambles by her side, knowing that Fibber’s rain scroll would be incredible.
Eventually, the scrolls were finished – a dazzling array of paintings showered in so many shades of blue it was possible to see every kind of rain on the canvas: from the glitter of fine rain to the deluge of a downpour and the mist of a drizzly day. The Doodlers rolled the scrolls up and stamped them shut with wax seals, then they placed them in a large pulley basket that was hoisted across the lagoon and up into the canopy of the Bustling Giant.
There was a moment of quiet, as if everyone might be waiting for something, then the whoomph of heavy wings, a glimpse of large, curled claws between the branches of the tree, a rustling in the leaves and then, just like that, the rain scrolls were gone – carried off by the dragons to the Faraway.
Doodler’s Haven erupted into cheers then as Dunkers and Dashers spilled out of the Bustling Giant, Doodlers clapped Fibber on the back and the imprisoned Unmappers and animals came pouring out of the tunnel with Deepglint. And so it was that the kingdom of Jungledrop was brought together again, a jostle of extraordinary animals, magical creatures and Unmappers all wanting to congratulate Fox and Fibber for being the heroes who saved the kingdom.
Great platters of food arrived with another batch of Unmappers, everything from pyramids of exotic fruit to goblets of juice and chocolate pastry towers, and everyone sat down on the banks of the lagoon and ate. Even a handful of trunklets appeared to join the celebrations and Fox noticed they ate the platters and the goblets as well as the food and drink on offer.
Doogie Herbalsneeze sat beneath a candletree with the Lofty Husks who, it appeared, were telling jokes to one another, while the twins sat with Iggy (and Heckle, who was so overwhelmed by the amount of thoughts she could read in one place that she rather sensibly went to sleep in Iggy’s hair) and his friends who wanted to know everything about life in the Faraway. Apparently, there was only so much they could learn from the plant that grew newspapers…
‘Is it true that everyone in England eats hot cross buns for tea?’
‘How do cars work without junglespit to power them?’
‘Are Germans really on time for absolutely everything?’
‘Should you smuggle a pretty-please plant home with you so that you can get pocket money on demand whenever you hold a hand under its leaves?’
Fox and Fibber answered the questions as best they could, though there was one that left them both stumped: ‘How on earth will you get home?’
And though magic is rarely on time – in fact, more often than not it is disgracefully late – that day it was rather prompt to show its face. Because, as the last of the celebratory dinglejuices were drunk (a fabulous concoction that tasted of bananas and raspberries with a smattering of chocolate thrown in), there was a chugging sound, followed by a whistle blaring and then, to everyone’s surprise, the nose of a train poked through the undergrowth behind the candletree the twins sat beneath.
Fox watched as green smoke fizzed up through the branches of the tree, then a junglespook, wearing nothing but a loincloth, sauntered out of the undergrowth.
‘Do I have a Fox and Fibber Petty-Squabble here?’ Tedious Niggle asked. ‘Or did they get savaged by sticklebugs over in the Bonelands?’
The twins stood up before the junglespook.
Tedious Niggle rubbed his eyes. ‘You look different,’ he said. ‘Less clean. Less cross.’
The twins laughed. Fox had imagined leaving Jungledrop many times, the Forever Fern’s immortalising pearl clutched in her hand, and so it felt strange seeing the way home right there in front of them and to be leaving empty-handed. But then she thought back to her and Fibber’s journey, of all they had seen and done to set things right. And she realised that she wasn’t really going home empty-handed at all; she was returning with a brother, who was a friend not a rival, and she was returning with a surprising amount of self-belief and a world-shaking story. Fox blinked. She was, in fact, leaving with so many brilliant things she felt a little bit greedy.
‘I won’t ever forget you,’ Iggy said to the twins. ‘You’ve been the most brilliant heroes.’
On the Unmapper’s shoulder, Heckle cocked her head. ‘And the most brilliant friends. Heckle will miss repeating your thoughts all day long.’
Fibber ran a hand over the parrot’s head and Fox stroked her wing, then they hugged Iggy tight.
‘We’ll miss you both so much,’ Fox said.
Deepglint padded over to the twins. ‘Your names will go down in Unmapped legend, as Casper Tock’s did in Rumblestar, and Smudge and Bartholomew’s did in Crackledawn.’
Fox gazed at the Lofty Husk. He was so big and
