| “Shadow?” Queen Mer ventured down the steps, wondering how a girl like Shadow could like the dungeon so much. As she wandered past cabinets full of torture tools, past walls where chains hung, past maps of the world that were marked by red pins, and past a poster declaring an agenda from a month ago to take over the world, she wondered if Shadowprincess was baking brownies again, perhaps to bribe the other Realmians with? “Shadow?” she called again. Queen Shadowprincess bolted out of one of the dungeons, whirling to slam a door shut behind it and swiftly locking it, then turned to Mer. There was an extremely guilty look on her face and a sly look in her eyes. “Yes?” she queried. Mer regarded her sternly. “Are you keeping something secret? We haven’t seen you for ages upstairs.” “Of course not,” Shadow replied, thinking of her plans for world-domination. “I don’t keep secrets, Mer.” Mer didn’t feel like debating it any further: so much to do this month, and Shadowprincess was perfectly trustworthy. “Okay.” She turned to a more interesting conversation topic. “Have you heard about the throne room? They’re gonna paint it red.” Shadowprincess’s eyes widened. “With blue stripes?” she suggested. “Or a border? Maybe a bit of stencilling. And I think the throne room could do with a couple of pots of plants, and the curtains should be changed: green curtains won’t go with red. It’s a crime.” “Whoa,” Mer said hastily. “And what’s with the plan for redecorating, anyway?” Shadow demanded. Mer grinned and told her about the exploding squid llama and rebelling Mac. “Have you seen Mac?” she asked when she’d finished. Shadow shook her head, eyes darting nervously towards the locked door. “Nope.” “Oh well,” Mer sighed. “Evil will come out when it feels like bashing us over the head and stealing our brownies.” “I’ll hide my brownies,” Shadow promised absent-mindedly. “Now I’d better...” finish finalising my plans for world domination... “...work some more on the new sigtags. And my entry for next month’s poetry competition.” “Yes,” Mer said, startled. “So had I. Bye!” She turned and hurried out of the dark dungeons as Shadow turned and unlocked the door again, went back into the nicest dungeon, which had lacy doilies on the only windowsill. “So what d’you think?” Mac asked, sipping an herbal tea. “Do you like my ideas? Do I have your support?” Shadow smiled. “Yes,” she assured Mac. “My weapons are yours.” “What weapons do you have, anyway?” Mac queried. “I mean, I mostly have squid llamas, and a few armies of furbies...” “Winged monkeys,” Shadow said gravely. “They’re currently in rehab though.” “Drugged monkeys?” Mac asked, raising an eyebrow. “Bananas,” Shadow corrected. “They’re addicted to bananas. So I sent them to rehab. Costs a fortune: I’ve been paying in brownies.” “So that’s why there’s been such a shortage,” Mac smiled. “But they’ll be back next week,” Shadow continued. “So it should be enough to completely overcome the Realm and then the Moat.” “Shouldn’t it be the Moat and then the Realm?” Mac asked. Shadow shrugged. “True. Realm does sound bigger than Moat.” “Depends on the size of the Moat,” Mac said thoughtfully. “And on what’s inside the Moat.” “Crocodiles,” Shadow said calmly. “There are a lot of crocodiles. And a few discarded nuclear missiles that someone dropped into the water. No one bothered to go down after them, though.” “Cool. I like zoo animals,” Mac said, thinking of her new secret weapon. “They can stomp a lot of things.” “Well...” Shadow pushed the scrolls across the table. “Here are the plans and secret passages of the Realm and the Moat. I can sort out this half, I’ve got a couple of lengths of barbed wire spare, and a few bear traps.” Together, they discussed plans for the first attack, both smiling grimly. | 
