Sally woke Jeanette up.  It took Jeanette a few seconds to remember that she should be surprised by that.

“Colwyn said not to wake you til ten,” explained Sally, playfully bouncing up and down on her sister’s legs.  She’d woken her up the same way she always did on Christmas morning, by pouncing on her like a cat and shaking her until she opened her eyes properly.  “He said we both needed some sleep.”

“What time did you get in?” asked Jeanette, with a yawn.

“Three in the morning.”  Sally bounced one last time, then settled down.  “Rube’s still back at the house.  Colwyn gave Falada to her.”

“Wait, what?  Why’d he leave her back there?”

Sally took a few minutes to tell Jeanette what happened, occasionally doubling back to add in some extra details about the mammoth skeleton, but the gist of it was that they’d run into a burglar, and Rube had stayed behind to help with the burglary.  Given how out-of-character that was for Rube, Jeanette could only assume that this was one gorgeous burglar.

“But, wait,” said Jeanette, “What’s going to happen when Dol and Bo get back?  In fact, they probably are back by now, right?” 

She was briefly worried that Sally and Colwyn might not have known about that and that she’d just broken the news in a seriously insensitive way, but Sally just waved it aside.  “It’s OK.  We’re co-ordinating.  That’s why Rube’s got Falada- so we can keep in touch.”

Jeanette nodded.  “So…  She’s fine at the moment?”

“Yeah.  She’d have called in if she wasn’t.”

Jeanette wasn’t as sure about that as Sally seemed to be.  Shouldn’t they be calling Rube to check, instead of the other way round?  But before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door. 

“Come in!” chirped Sally, without bothering to consult her sister.  Not like it was her bedroom or anything.

Colwyn opened the door.  It had been a couple of years since Jeanette had seen him face-to-face, and she’d expected him to look how she remembered him- old and worn-out.  But instead, he almost looked younger than she remembered.  Maybe Jeanette had been going through that phase of assuming that anyone over twenty-five was ancient.  Or maybe being captured and locked up in an attic just really agreed with some people.

“Jeanette,” he said, smiling, “It’s good to finally see you.”

A third possibility occurred to Jeanette, and it had something to do with the way he was framed in the doorway.  Maybe it was just that they were in Dovecote Gardens now, and he was more confident when he was on his own turf.

Colwyn continued.  “I wanted to apologise for your being alone in the house last night, when everyone arrived.  It wasn’t fair that you had to deal with that.  I should never have put you in that position.”

Jeanette shrugged.  “It wasn’t your idea to trick the Iridescences into coming over.”

“Still…”

“And how were you supposed to know our dad would get arrested by dragons?”  She quickly glanced at Sally, in case she hadn’t heard about that, but she seemed unfazed.

“Beside the point.  I should have been here.”  He took a couple of steps forward.  “And speaking of your dad, at some point we’ll have to decide who goes to Underhill Towers and gets him.  But first,” he sighed, “I think it’s high time we called your mother.”

(To be continued)