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I’ve been so focused on finding Neon a place to stay that I almost forget I have to work in the shop at ten o’clock.

Joel could definitely manage without me, but I can’t cancel this late – I don’t want him to get annoyed and tell Mum and Mutti about Neon’s visit, and I don’t want a lecture from them about responsibilities, either.

We head home and find Joel at the kitchen table, bleary-eyed with a giant cup of coffee in his hands and a book open in front of him.

“Morning,” he says through a yawn. “You’re up early for a Saturday.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” I take a packet of crumpets from the bread bin and pop two in the toaster. “And Neon was already awake, so we went for a walk.”

“Oh, right.” Joel takes a sip of coffee and turns the page. “Are you heading home today, Neon?”

Neon takes the jam from the fridge. “I’ve actually decided to stick around!”

“Only for a little longer,” I add quickly. “But it’s OK – he’s staying with Tilly this week.”

“Oh, OK.” Other people would check if he’d got his mum’s permission for that, but Joel’s brain runs at a limited capacity in the mornings. “Are you and Tilly friends again, then? You haven’t mentioned her in ages.”

“No. Well, sort of? Not really.” It had felt so good to talk to her again, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. If she’s doing us a favour, then it’s for Neon, not me. “Actually, could Neon borrow some of your old clothes? He didn’t bring enough for two weeks.”

Joel says that’s fine, and once Neon and I have finished our crumpets they head upstairs to go through Joel’s wardrobe.

I run upstairs to get changed into my uniform – Mum had Every Book & Cranny T-shirts made up last year after doing an online course on branding – and look out my old phone for Neon to use.

The screen is cracked, and there are only a few pounds’ worth of credit left on the eSIM, but it’ll do for emergencies.

Worries are starting to prickle at the back of my mind.

If Neon really wants to stay here, how is he going to live?

He can’t sleep in Tilly’s barn and wear Joel’s hand-me-downs forever.

He’ll need a home and money, food and clothes.

He’ll have to go to school. Maybe it’s not like that in the Realm, but there’s no escaping it here.

“I’ll give you a lift to the farm,” Joel tells me when he comes out of his room. “Then we can go straight to the shop afterwards.”

While I wait downstairs, Neon comes out of the bathroom wearing one of Joel’s white T-shirts with a checked shirt. His face is pale and his hands tremble as he pulls the door shut behind him.

“Are you OK?” I ask, handing him the phone. “Did you see something again?”

His face looks the way it did the day we saw the pink rabbit appear on the street outside school, and he barely seems to notice the phone in his hand. He licks his lips, searching for the words, but before he can answer Joel appears in the hallway with his bag over his shoulder.

“Are you both ready? I’ve got to open the shop by ten.”

Neon nods and rushes out to the car. I lock up behind me, then hurry to catch up, but Neon climbs into the back seat before I can ask any more questions.

Tilly’s family’s farm is up in the hills behind the village, five minutes from our place by car.

Neon talks non-stop as Joel drives, babbling about anything his eye lands on: crows, some purple flowers by the roadside, a cloud shaped like a croissant.

He’s always talkative, but today I get the feeling he’s trying to distract me.

He saw something back at our house. Something strange and probably fictional.

Tilly is waiting for us at the end of the lane when we reach the farm. Bella is with her and starts jumping up and barking excitedly as she sees Neon. He grabs his backpack, thanks Joel for the lift and letting him stay, and jumps out to join Tilly and the dog.

When I go to give him a hug, he whispers in my ear, “There’s, uh, something in your bathroom. Try not to panic when you see it, OK? We’ll figure out what to do with it this afternoon.”

My stomach clenches but he gives me a look that stops me from asking any more in front of the others. He turns to Tilly with a smile. “Ready to go!”

By the time we get to the shop, it’s almost ten, so there’s no time for me to go home and find out what Neon left back at our house.

I plan to sneak out during my break but we’re surprisingly busy this morning – a few of our regulars come in to get a new Ian Rankin novel that came out a few days ago, and I spend ages helping eight-year-old twin girls pick middle-grade books with their birthday vouchers.

Usually I’d be happy that business is good, but today it makes me jittery and nervous.

My mind keeps coming up with ideas as to what I might find when I get home, and each one is scarier than the last. If the thing in our bathroom looks anything like the pink bunny Neon and I saw the other day, I can handle it.

But what if it’s something dangerous, like a dragon or a yeti?

Or, even more terrifyingly – what if Mum and Mutti discover it before I do?

By the time my parents arrive at the shop, I feel sick with anxiety.

They both look tired, as they always do after travelling, but they break into big smiles when they see us.

They give us all tight hugs and hand out the presents they brought home for me, Joel and Gio: fancy cupcakes, books and tote bags.

They both have their suitcases with them, so clearly they haven’t been home yet.

“How was London?” Joel asks, sitting back down behind the counter. “Are you the toast of the literary scene?”

Mutti laughs. “Not quite but it was nice. The launch was a lot of fun. Reviews have been good, mostly.”

We have all of Mutti’s books in the shop, of course, and I’m always proud to show them to people. But if I’m being honest, they’re not really my cup of tea. They’re hefty literary novels where nothing much happens. They’ve won a few awards, though, and other people seem to like them a lot.

“How has everything been here?” she asks.

“Not too bad. Quiet during the week, but we had a bit of a rush hour this morning.” Joel nods to me. “Laurie worked her magic in the kids’ section.”

“ And I recommended to Mrs Lancaster those Loch Ness Monster colouring books that won’t shift,” I tell Mum. “She bought two for her grandchildren. So only about ninety-eight to go!”

Mum is behind the till, staring at something on the computer.

Her mouth is a tight, straight line. Mutti looks at her with an odd expression, then busies herself straightening the hardbacks on the new fiction table.

Suddenly the room is filled with a strange tension.

I’ve known for a while that something is going on between my parents, and obviously a week in London together hasn’t sorted it out.

For a moment, I’m about to ask, but then I chicken out – I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

Joel breaks the awkward moment by clapping his hands together. “Hey, did Laurie tell you she sang at Friday Showcase?”

“What?” Mutti whirls round with a hardback in each hand. “You did? Laurie! That’s amazing!”

My cheeks go bright red. Joel was so busy with his uni work last night that he forgot to ask about our performance, and I was too embarrassed to bring it up myself. “I didn’t, actually. I was going to sing with my friend, but I got too nervous.”

“Oh. Well, that’s OK. You can try again another time,” Mum says gently. “Which friend were you performing with?”

“This boy called Neon.” Talking about him to my parents feels strange, but this is a small town. They’re sure to bump into him eventually. “He’s visiting from America. He’s a really good singer, so we thought we’d try it out.”

“Yeah, we’ve seen a lot of Neon this week.” Joel smirks at me. I glare back at him and he holds up his hands in surrender. “Sorry about the nerves, though. You guys sounded great when you were practising.”

Mum tells us to head home early – she and Mutti have some business to discuss with Gio, apparently – so Joel grabs our jackets from the back room and we head out to the car.

I think about asking him if he knows what the strange atmosphere between Mum and Mutti is about, but I’m too preoccupied with whatever is currently in our bathroom.

As soon as Joel pulls up on our street, I open the door and sprint towards the house.

“What’s the rush?” Joel shouts after me.

“I need to pee!”

Carrie is standing at her front window but I’m in too much of a hurry to act casual this time.

I quickly unlock the door, kick off my shoes and hurry upstairs to the bathroom.

When I pull open the door, a scream rolls up through my body and I have to clamp both hands over my mouth to stop it from escaping.

Standing in the bath, surrounded by bottles of shampoo and condition, is a horse .

A small white horse with a silvery mane…

Wait.

It’s not a horse. It’s something else. And if Neon’s arrival was a surprise, this is ten times more so.

Because it’s a unicorn.

There is a unicorn in the bathroom.