When a story ends, "They all lived happily ever after" you can usually assume that nothing story-worthy ever happened to the characters again. And since Verbal Voodoo ended this way, you will be thinking, "The sequel will be totally rubbish and plotless." Which it probably will be.

However, when "happily ever after" is obtained by verbal voodoo, it isn't necessarily permanent. For example, what would happen if one of characters had amnesia? Or what if verbal voodoo was used for aevil purposes?


Five years later, little had changed. CZ, Queen of Bloxed, and William, King of Bloxed were still happily married. The Not- Quite-So-Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Not-Quite-So-Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr were still happily married. Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket was still happily playing cricket for England. Lady Woodward's pupils were still getting A*s in their GCSEs.

Queen CZ had used verbal voodoo for other good purposes as well. Her friend, Maid Marion had been granted extra time for her A Level Geography exam, free of charge. Her Siblings of the Royal Pen were happy too. King Nate the Great was a famous actor; The Good Sorceress Chaos (sorry Sam, but with a name like that you couldn't be anything else) was winning Pulitzer Prizes; and the Naughty Slasher Princess Flink the X-Phile of Speed-Racer-dom was a famous netball player and happily married to Prince Jeff Gordon of NASCAR.

However, CZ, Queen of Bloxed, had not used verbal voodoo for a long time. She and her friends were happy and she did not want to accidentally alter their good fortunes. So she had returned to writing about fictional characters again.

Then one day, something went wrong.

The Not-Quite-So-Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Not-Quite-So- Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr had bought some Acorn computers for the sole purpose of wrecking them. And they were having a great time throwing them at each other. Unfortunately, one of them hit The Not-Quite-So-Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr on the head, knocking her out. And simultaneously, one hit The Not-Quite-So-Aevil Wizard Rohan on the head, knocking him out.

When they came to their senses, they both had amnesia, and thought it was six years ago, when they were both aevil and hated each other's guts. So The Aevil Wizard Rohan said, "Heech! Why am I living with The Aevil Scank-Wench Sorceress Smillurrr?"

And The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr said, "Heech! Why am I living with The Aevil Gayk-Sponch Wizard Rohan?" Then she noticed the wedding ring on her finger. "We can't be married, can we? What a ghastly prospect!"

"I'm out of here," The Aevil Wizard Rohan said, heading for the exit of the house they had moved into. But as he opened the door, he saw a gypsy standing on the door step. "What do you want?" he asked, irritably.

"Would you be interested in buying some verbal voodoo?" the gypsy asked.

Of course The Aevil Wizard Rohan liked the sound of that. To use on The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, preferably. "What is verbal voodoo and what is the cost?"

But before the gypsy could answer, The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr shouted, "Have you not gone yet? Get out of my house now!"

"There's someone here trying to sell me verbal voodoo," The Aevil Wizard Rohan said. He cursed silently, forgetting that he was going to use it as a weapon against The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr.

"Verbal voodoo?" The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr asked. "That sounds almost as interesting as Canada, horses and St. Anne's!" She giggled at her own non-existent sense of humour.

"It's where you write a story and everything that happens in it comes true," the gypsy said. "And the price is seven hundred gold pieces." (Inflation.)

"Smink," said The Aevil Wizard Rohan. "I only have three hundred gold pieces."

"It's not fair!" said The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr. "I only have four hundred gold pieces."

The gypsy sighed. These aevil people were so thick. "Well, why don't you buy it together? You will have to remain married for it to work, and you will not be able to use it against one another, but I'm sure it's worth it."

The aevil duo looked at each other. Much as they hated each other's guts, verbal voodoo sounded like extreme coolness and aevilness. "All right," they said simultaneously. And they retreated into the house to gather their gold pieces.

They paid the gypsy, who said, "The gift of verbal voodoo is yours! Enjoy!" And she walked away, humming the tune of The Bagot.

Usually hearing that tune would cause The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr to go psychopathic. But she was too happy about getting verbal voodoo to notice. "Let's try it out," she said.

"Hmm," The Aevil Wizard Rohan said in a rohanic way. "Hang on a sec. Do you think it was because of someone else using verbal voodoo that we ended up together in the first place?"

"Maybe," she replied. "Hey, I'll bet it was CZ, Queen of Bloxed! She likes to write, doesn't she?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," he said. "Well, let us get our revenge on her. Bwahaha!"

However, since neither of them were as imaginative as CZ, Queen of Bloxed, neither of them could think of a suitably aevil punishment to inflict on her. Until Rohan noticed the dilapidated Acorn computers strewn across the floor of the living room.

"Aha!" he said. "How about we break Queen CZ's Acorn Computer and force her to buy a PC?"

"Brilliant!" she cried, forgetting momentarily that complimenting The Aevil Wizard Rohan went against every principle of Smillurrrdom. "But nowhere near as brilliant as I am," she corrected herself.

So he turned on their PC and loaded Microsoft Word and typed, "CZ, Queen of Bloxed, turned on her Acorn Computer only to find that it didn't work. Bwahaha!"

"And rightly so," The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr agreed. "Acorn computers are totally pan- hey, there's an idea! I haven't heard William, King of Bloxed say pants for a long time; maybe she has erased it from his mind with this verbal voodoo thing."

"And we should re-introduce it," The Aevil Wizard Rohan interpreted. "Good idea," he said, forgetting it was his sworn enemy that he was talking to. So he typed, "William, King of Bloxed suddenly remembered the word 'pants'."

At that precise moment in time, Queen CZ and King William were heading for the royal computer, to have a game of Bloxed. They did not get to indulge in Bloxed often, for being Queen and King is a tiresome business as there are always incompetent and ax-worthy people to deal with. But when Queen CZ turned the computer on, it did not work.

"It does not work!" she cried in anguish. "Why is my wonderful Acorn doing this to me?"

"Is it plugged in?" William, King of Bloxed, suggested. But it was plugged in, there had not been a power cut, and nothing seemed to be amiss.

"It looks like we cannot play Bloxed after all," Queen CZ said unhappily.

"That is pants," King William agreed.

"Pants?" cried CZ, Queen of Bloxed. "I thought you would never say that word again!"

"Heech! I have not said it for years!" King William cried. "How could I possibly have forgotten about such a wonderful word? Now I must make up for lost time. Pants, pants, pants!"

How can this be? Queen CZ wondered. Did verbal voodoo only work for five years? Or could it be that someone else was using verbal voodoo against them? Such as... some totally aevil people. Such as... The Aevil Wizard Rohan or The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr! And maybe that would explain why her Acorn had stopped working as well.

"I thought them getting married had made them lose their aevilness," she murmured.

"What are you talking about?" King William asked. "You're talking pants!"

"Nothing," she said. But never mind, she thought. I can use verbal voodoo to make the royal computer work and erase "pants" from King William's vocabulary again.

So after William had wondered off to proclaim "Pants!" to everyone in the queendom (since Queen CZ was there first, it was still a queendom), CZ, Queen of Bloxed, found a piece of paper and pen. But before she made things right, she would test to see if verbal voodoo still worked.

"Just then a piece of gold appeared in the middle of the sitting room floor in CZ's castle," she wrote. She watched the middle of the floor intently. But no gold appeared.

Maybe there was some ambiguity in that statement, she thought. But she couldn't see where. So she tried again, "Suddenly the royal television came on." But no picture appeared on the TV screen.

Oh no, she thought. Maybe I have lost the gift, having not used it for so long. Maybe there was a four year guarantee on it.

What she didn't guess was that The Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr were not quite as stupid as people gave them credit for. And they had already thought of the possibility that CZ, Queen of Bloxed, could get her Acorn to work again by using verbal voodoo. So they had eliminated this possibility by writing, "CZ's gift of verbal voodoo ceased to work."

So Queen CZ was frustrated as she was unable to use verbal voodoo. But there was no reason to worry. She would simply get a new computer; cost wasn't a problem. Besides, The Aevil Duo weren't so bad anymore, right? They wouldn't inflict any more pain on her...

So the following day, Queen CZ and King William travelled around the kingdom, looking for a shop that sold Acorns. However, The Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr had accounted for this possibility as well. And, thanks to them, all the Acorn suppliers in the queendom had closed permanently. All the Acorn suppliers in the world, actually, just to be on the safe side.

CZ, Queen of Bloxed, was most upset, so King William made an attempt to comfort her. "Why don't you just get a PC?" he said. "You gotta admit, Acorns are pants. And you can get PC Bloxed now, and all your disks will still work, if you treat them nicely."

"But that is admitting defeat!" Queen CZ protested. "For all these years, I have protested against PCs! I cannot get one now!"

But after four days, she came to the conclusion that if she didn't have a computer, she would die. So, very very reluctantly, she purchased a PC. If anyone gloated, she would give them a prison sentence.

CZ, Queen of Bloxed, found the PC to be totally and utterly pants. Windoze drove her up the wall. But she could live with it.

Unfortunately, when The Aevil Duo realised she was managing, they realised they had to inflict more misery upon her. "We must make her ultra-pants at Bloxed!" The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr declared. "So she cannot be Queen anymore!"

"Excellent," The Aevil Wizard Rohan cackled, cracking his fingers in glee. "And come to think of it, let's make King William pants at Bloxed as well. So I can be King. Bwahaha!"

"And I will make myself ded gud at Bloxed so I can be Queen."

So the following day, when Queen CZ and King William played PC Bloxed (which was pure pants), they were both absolutely rubbish. Their fingers wouldn't press the right buttons, and they kept dropping pieces in the wrong places. They couldn't complete a single line.

"What is wrong?" Queen CZ asked rhetorically. "Maybe it is just this scanky PC." But much as she loathed the computer, she could not blame it for her lack of ability at Bloxed. What seemed more likely was that someone had interfered with her Bloxed- playing ability. Someone she knew pretty well...

And, indeed, later that day, an unfamiliar man appeared at the castle. "I am the new appointer of Bloxed sovereigns," he said. "And I have heard that The Aevil Wizard Rohan has reached level 205 and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr has reached level 203."

Heech! thought Queen CZ. Even when the Acorn still worked, neither she or King William had reached level one hundred, never mind two hundred. The Aevil Duo had to be cheating, by using verbal voodoo to enhance their Bloxed playing abilities.

"And," said the man, "unless you can do better than that, you will have to lose your titles."

Oh no! CZ, Queen of Bloxed, thought. Even at the best of times, that would be impossible. But today, of course, when the man watched them play Bloxed, neither she nor King William could get past level 1.

And so, they lost their titles, while The Aevil Duo became The Aevil Wizard Rohan, King of Bloxed, and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, Queen of Bloxed. And they wished to move into CZ's castle.

"Not a chance!" CZ said. "I may not be Queen anymore, but this is my home. CZ's home, not the castle of Bloxed. So I am staying right here."

But of course the Aevil Royal Duo were not content with living in a two storey semi-detached house.

And so, the following day, a bill arrived at the castle, saying, "Pay 1000000 gold pieces as rent today or be evicted from the castle."

"That is crazy," CZ said to William. "I own this place, why should I have to pay rent?"

But never mind. She could afford it... or so she thought. She went into the gold room to collect the money... and it was empty!

"We will have to sell some stuff," William said.

So they sold all their luscious furniture (from Vaseys, of course), and jewels, and furs, and everything else. Everything except the PC, CZ's clarinet and William's collection of Spice Girls merchandise and pants, things which they couldn't bear to part with. And they found themselves with 999900 gold pieces.

"Something will have to go," CZ said, eyeing William's very large pants collection. "You have enough pants there to wear for the rest of your life, without having to wash any." (The Spice Girls merchandise, she realised, was worthless.)

"You don't even practise the clarinet," William protested. "Besides, your parents could give you a cheaper one, I'm sure."

"No way," CZ said. "It is only sensible to keep it. If we get evicted, we may need to busk. But pants have no use whatsoever."

"How about the PC?" William said. "As you have always said, it is pants and ax-worthy and scanky and hiungesting. And I'm sure someone will buy it."

"But I cannot live without a computer!" CZ wailed.

"But maybe we'll find some rubbish Acorns in the scrapyard or somewhere," William said. "After all, no one but you likes them."

So they went outside, yelling "PC for sale!"

But no one wanted it.

This was an extremely aevil move on the the part of The Aevil Royal Duo. Using verbal voodoo, they had invented an extremely brilliant but cheap Acorn computer. And therefore, everyone who CZ and William approached said, "PCs are pants. I don't want it."

"Ok," William said, with a sigh. "I will sell my pants collection."

But when they arrived back at the castle, all the gold they had amalgamated was gone! It could not have been stolen... but CZ had no doubt that The Aevil Royal Duo had been up to their usual tricks.

Much as William loved and worshipped his pants collection, they were aware that it would not fetch one million gold pieces. And so they were evicted from the castle. And a suddenly-very- rich Aevil Wizard Rohan, King of Bloxed, and Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, Queen of Bloxed, moved in.

And so CZ the scank-wench and William the scank-sponch took to the streets. At first they busked : CZ played the clarinet and William sang. And they were ded gud as well, and made quite a lot of money, almost enough to buy an ultra- brilliant Acorn computer.

But unfortunately The Aevil Royal Duo heard about them. So one night, CZ's clarinet was stolen, William's voice turned to a nails-on-a-blackboard sqwark and all their gold disappeared.

"Well, I shall sell my pants collection," William the scank- sponch said bravely.

But everyone who passed them said, "Pants are pants." (Well duh!) "Underwear is out this season."

And naturally William's Spice Girls merchandise collection could not be sold either.

"How about selling ourselves?" CZ, the scank-wench suggested.

But all their potential clients said, "Ugh, you are scanky" and went away.

And so during the cold winter nights, they huddled together in the entrance to Tesco. (William had suddenly rediscovered his passion for supermarkets.) Their clothes wore down to rags, and so they made new ones out of pairs of pants, and slept under a thin blanket of Spice Girls posters.

CZ the scank-wench should have been thoroughly unhappy. Her title, her home, her Bloxed-playing skills and her computer were gone. This was where her life was, in the entrance of Tesco, clad in pants, with a computer she hated. (Annoyingly enough, no one had stolen it yet. They had tried throwing it away, but it always ended up back with them.) And the Aevil Royal Duo reigned, boasting about their wealth and Bloxed-playing abilities, and treating their subject citizens like scummy pants.

And yet, she was still happy, because she had William. (Awwwwww!) Even in the face of adversity, they still elbowed each other endlessly and hit each other over the head with copies of The Big Issue and talked in Zobo-Creat. If anything, this turn of misfortune had strengthened their love. (Ok, quite enough of that.)

But one day The Aevil Wizard Rohan, King of Bloxed, and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, Queen of Bloxed, happened to see the scanky couple happily elbowing each other.

"They are still happy!" The Aevil Queen Smillurrr protested, when CZ and William were out of earshot. "What can we do?"

"Hmm," The Aevil King Rohan said. Then, a few seconds later, he said, "Hang on a sec! Yes, I have a cunning plan! Bwahaha!"

"What?" The Aevil Queen Smillurrr asked, eagerly.

"We shall make CZ the scank-wench fall in love with someone completely aevil!"

"Like you," Queen Smillurrr suggested. Their aevil plotting against CZ and William had brought about a truce between them, but they were still less than happy to be married to each other. They had tried to get a divorce, but since neither wished to lose their title, this was impossible.

"No, how about you?" King Rohan said. "A leek relationship would drive Will up the wall."

"No!" Queen Smillurrr cried. "I have it! Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket!"

"Yes! Vunderbar! Bwahaha!"

So the next morning, when CZ woke up, a Revelation entered her mind. "How could I have been so foolish?" she said quietly to herself. "All these years, I thought William was the one for me - providing he lost the pants, Spice Girls and supermarkets obsessions. But I was wrong - it is Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket who I adore!"

So, before William could wake up and stop her, she started running in the direction of Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket's manor.

When she arrived, Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket did not recognise her. "Yes?" he said. "What do you want, scank-wench?"

"Do you not know who I am?" CZ asked. "I am CZ, the former Queen of Bloxed."

Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket laughed. "You are not CZ," he said. "And even if you were, who is the Queen now, then?"

"The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr," CZ said. "And The Aevil Wizard Rohan is King. Did you not know that?"

"No," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket said. "I have been too busy playing cricket and drinking and womanizing to keep up with current affairs. Speaking of which, can I go back to bed now? I have a hangover and a bird, who needs to leave before my wife comes home."

"No!" CZ protested. "You want to stay with me! These dodgy pursuits are only the result of verbal voodoo on the part of King Rohan and Queen Smillurrr. It is me that you really want!"

Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket was puzzled. "What about William?"

"No, you don't want William at all. He is a scank-sponch."

"I meant, where is William and are you still married to him?"

"He is in the entrance to Tesco, and yes, I am still married to him, but I am tired of him. He talks about Baby Spice all day and will not go more than ten metres away from the supermarket. My elbows are all battered and bruised because of him, and if he says the p word one more time I will strangle him. It is you who I adore."

"Well, that's very nice," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket said. "Shall I give you some proper clothes? - I'm sure my wife won't mind if you take some of hers. And I will give you some gold pieces if you like. And an Acorn computer, if you don't have one."

"I do not care for material possessions," CZ said. "All I care for is you." (The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, Queen of Bloxed, was having a field day, feeding these words into CZ's brain.)

Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket was wondering what he could say to make CZ go away, when the doorbell rang. Saved by the bell, he thought. Then he realised who it would be. "My wife is back!" he said. "Quick, go upstairs and hide. Tell, um, whatever- her-name is, to hide as well."

"No," CZ said. "I must show the world my love for you." And before Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket could stop her, she flung open the door.

On the doorstep stood a scrawny woman dressed in brightly coloured rags. Surely this is not Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket's wife? CZ thought.

"Would you be interested in buying verbal voodoo?" the woman said. "Only seven hundred gold pieces."

"No thanks," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket said, just as CZ screamed, "Yes, yes, oh yes!"

"All right." The gypsy eyed her curiously. "And where are you going to get seven hundred gold pieces from?"

CZ turned to Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket. "Please please please will you lend me seven hundred gold pieces?"

"If it gets rid of you, then yes," he answered.

"Hang on a sec," the gypsy said to CZ. (She had been taking the example of the king.) "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"Yes, I bought verbal voodoo from you a few years ago. But it doesn't work anymore."

"In that case, I cannot sell you it again," the gypsy said. "The talent is still with you, and if you take it again, it will cast a curse upon you. You will find ants in your pants and your husband will cheat on you and you will not be able to see yourself in the mirror or cross running water."

"Then will you buy it?" CZ asked Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket.

"What is verbal voodoo?" he enquired.

"It means that when you write a story it will come true," the gypsy said.

"So I can get some proper clothes and my castle back and an Acorn computer," CZ added.

"All right," said Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket. He disappeared into a room for a little while and came out with seven hundred gold pieces which he handed to the gypsy.

"The gift is yours!" the gypsy said, as she took the money. She walked away, humming the tune of The Bagot as usual.

"Will people never forget about that song?" he asked rhetorically as he closed the door.

"Can we try verbal voodoo out now?" CZ asked.

"All right," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket said. He'd do anything to get rid of CZ. "Follow me." He led her into the study where there was an ultra-funky Acorn computer.

He loaded Impression (a desktop publishing program; no one other than CZ used First World Plus). "Hmm, what first?" he pondered. "Oh yes."

He typed, "Everyone in the queendom stopped singing and talking about that infernal song, 'The Bagot'. Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket's hangover went away."

"That's better," he said. "Now, what would you like me to type?"

"CZ and William became ded gud at Bloxed and got past level 300," she dictated. "Whereas The Aevil Wizard Rohan, King of Bloxed, and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr, Queen of Bloxed, became ded pants at Bloxed. CZ and William told the general public of their achievement, and consequently became King and Queen of Bloxed again.

"CZ and William found millions of gold pieces and a well funky Acorn computer in the entrance to Tesco. The Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr became sick of their castle and moved out. CZ and William moved back into it again and bought back all their possessions.

"The Aevil Wizard Rohan and The Aevil Sorceress Smillurrr became completely and utterly nice people and never did anything aevil or magicke again. They lost their gift of verbal voodoo and never again saw the gypsy who sold them it. They had a lifelong successful marriage, became partial to Acorn computers, and left CZ, Queen of Bloxed, and William, King of Bloxed, well alone.

"William, King of Bloxed, forgot all about pants, supermarkets and The Spice Girls. Permanently. His elbows became less sharp as well."

"But hang on," CZ interrupted her narrating. "Why am I telling you to write about me and William? Silly me. It is you and I from now on."

"Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket fell madly in love with CZ, Queen of Bloxed," she dictated.

"Sir Christopher Bagot," he typed out loud, "of Cricket fell- hang on a minute." He pressed the delete key several times, but the words would not erase themselves.

"The delete key does not work when using verbal voodoo," CZ told him smugly.

"Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket fell..." he tried to finish the sentence.

"Down a well," CZ suggested.

"Down a well," he typed. "Hey!"

"But he was rescued by CZ, Queen of Bloxed," CZ continued. "And he was eternally grateful to her."

"Hey!" an angry voice interrupted them. "What's going on here?"

CZ looked to see who it belonged to, and to her amazement, she saw Alice, Queen of Everything. What was she doing here?

"Alice, darling, this is CZ, the former Queen of Bloxed. I'm just doing her a favour. CZ, this is Alice, Queen of Everything, as I'm sure you're aware. Um, she's my wife."

"You're married?" CZ couldn't help shouting. "But what happened to Lord David Brackley of Civil Engineering?"

"It is most strange," Queen Alice said. "Until a few weeks ago, I was besotted with Dave, but one morning I woke up wanting no one but Bagot." (Queen Alice was convinced she had the right to call everyone by just their first names, or surnames as the case may be, regardless of rank. And no one argued with her.)

More work of the Aevil Duo, CZ thought.

"What is that you're doing, dear?" she asked Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket.

"Um, nothing," he said, trying to hide the screen. "Why don't you make some coffee?"

CZ managed to see what was on the screen, and read, "The bird in Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket's bed disappeared."

But Alice was not giving up, and using her superhuman strength, she prised her husband's arms away from the monitor.

"Your bed!" she cried when she saw the offending sentence. "It's mine! Hang on a minute - what bird?"

"A crow," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket told her. "I don't know how it got in there, but it wouldn't leave."

"Ok," Queen Alice said. "But what are you up to?"

"Just one last thing," he told her. And he typed, "And CZ, Queen of Bloxed, fell in love with-"

"No!" CZ yelled, grabbing at his fingers. "You cannot type that!"

"Queen Alice, please can you type 'William, King of Bloxed'?"

"Why?" Alice asked.

"Just do it," he instructed. And CZ could not stop two people at once, so she reached for the off switch on the computer. The screen turned back.

"Bwahaha!" she said. "It would not have worked anyway, since Alice, Queen of Everything, cannot do verbal voodoo."

"Queen Alice, please keep CZ away from me, while I write something," he said.

So a bemused Alice, Queen of Everything, grabbed hold of CZ while Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket searched for a pen and paper. CZ struggled to break free, but it was impossible. Queen Alice was simply too strong.

And suddenly CZ found herself thinking, what am I doing here? She had left poor William alone in the entrance to Tesco; he would be going frantic, wondering what had happened to her!

"I must go," she said. "William will be wondering where I am."

"Let her go," Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket told Alice. So she did, and CZ ran all the way back to Tesco's.

"Where have you been?" William asked when she got back. "Look at all this stuff!" The entrance to Tesco's was full of gold pieces, and an Acorn computer lay among them. She smiled; verbal voodoo was definitely working. "And I was playing Bloxed to pass the time, and I was ded gud at it! I got to level 301 and have been telling anyone who has walked past."

And sure enough, all the things that Sir Christopher Bagot of Cricket had written about came true.

And they all lived happily ever after.


For a while, anyway...