They’d been right, whoever had taught him about this magic. It was pretty awful. His stomach cramped almost before his tongue tasted the fizz in the beer, but after a decade of beanstalk puree, he’d learned he could keep anything down. Huff, puff, three hours of cramps was nothing compared to a diet of beanstalk! Well, beanstalk and the odd careless mouse.

But he was allowing himself to get distracted by food again. Think, Wolf! It would take about ten minutes for the bean to start working. He hoped he had enough time before the guards or police or whatever they called them here, came. He hadn’t broken out of the worst prison in his world to see Virginia get locked up in the equivalent in hers.

Now he needed a way of counting wishes. Clutching his stomach, he stumbled back into Virginia’s room.

When Wolf and Virginia return to New York from their adventure in the Nine Kingdoms, Wolf swallows a dragon dung bean to help them survive the dangers of the 10th Kingdom.