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‘What the . . . did you mean for that to happen?’ Stevie said in a cracked whisper.

‘Look – Tee!’ Susie yanked her sister up by the elbow and pointed to the sky. The clouds were rolling back fast, back to the horizon, like someone was rewinding a movie on double speed. Their colour faded from purple to blue, to soft pink and then nothing. The wind fell away.

Temperance searched for the last cloud that was still raining down on her, keeping her face wet, when she realised it was her own relieved tears.

‘We did it.’ She felt her ribs loosen, her forehead unclench. ‘I think we did it.’

‘I think you did it,’ Susie corrected. ‘But your powers, Temps, you . . . how could you give up your powers like that?’ Her bottom lip trembled with the question.

‘It had to be big. Not just to undo what I’d done, but for all those Gulliver generations suffering. It had to be big to correct that balance. And it wasn’t like I had a mega yacht or a mansion to chuck in. It was the biggest sacrifice I could make.’

Susie joined her in a full-on weep. ‘But it doesn’t feel fair.’

They hugged, Stevie coming behind and doing her best to wrap her petite arms around them both. ‘I’m so proud of you, Tee. And just think of the wicked memories these raincoats are going to have now.’

Except you and I won’t be able to feel them. Just Suse. Temperance kept this echoey little thought to herself.

‘Temperance!’ a low voiced boomed out from the path, Abel appearing a second later. ‘Oh thank God, we saw the flames from the pub. What are you doing?!’ Before she could speak he had almost pulled her off her feet into a bear hug, his arms crushing around her.

When they stepped apart Temperance wiped more tears from her cheek. ‘Um, so you know how you told me something a little bit woo woo? I’ve actually got one of those stories too, it turns out. I need to tell you about it, maybe once we’ve had a chance to get back and dry off.’ She looked down at her mud-and-ash-splattered legs, the ripped skirt now showing off a serious amount of flesh, and patted the hair plastered to her skull.

Abel’s eyes flicked away from her thighs. ‘Sure, of course. Here, I brought these for the three of you.’ He handed over bobbly beach towels and the women grabbed at them gratefully.

As they started a slow stagger back up to the village, none of them really knew how to make small talk after what they’d just witnessed. Susie walked at the back of the group and she couldn’t help but smile as a memory of a failed, soggy surfing lesson came back to her. If you took out the raging fires and ancient curses, it was just like old times.

Chapter 25

‘A witch.’

Temperance put one hand to her chin. ‘Yeah.’

Warm, dry and in her favourite pink joggers with the rainbow stripe up the side, she felt more like herself than she had in weeks. The neckline on her Blondie T-shirt was still stretched out, her hair was pulled back into a bun so dishevelled it needed its own therapist, but she was at peace. At last.

Temperance rested her feet on the kitchen chair in front of her, and sipped more of her Irish coffee. Margie had wanted them all to dry off by the pub fire with a round of whiskies, but Temperance knew she needed her own shower in that moment and to get out of clothes that involved a strapless bar, at the very least. All the party guests and villagers were still in shock about the Armageddon-themed afternoon: a thunderstorm, a random fire, three bedraggled women cartwheeling their way across the green to come home. Abel insisted he see Temperance safely back, all ten steps of the way.

He’d waited silently downstairs while she got changed and was now drumming his fingers against his legs, leaning back on the counter top.

‘Like . . . eye of newt, leg of frog? A witch witch?’ His face was unreadable.

‘Not so much cackling, or the foraged proteins, but a witch.’

‘Like the kind of witch that hexed Jack Gulliver?’ His face was pale.

Temperance shook her head so hard she felt slightly dizzy. ‘No, no. We’d never curse anyone like that. We’re into herbs and flowers, good memories. We’ve just been quietly doing our thing under the radar.’ Temperance had lived her adult life in fear of people knowing – especially people close to her. But now that she’d brought Stevie into their witchy world and she’d offloaded the entire weird story to Abel, she felt oddly free. No more shame. No more cold sweats of panic. He deserved to know the whole truth after sharing his. It would be up to him what he did with it.

‘Except for the part where you jinxed the whole village. Developers nearly swooped in. And you reversed a centuries’ old curse. That wasn’t so quiet.’

‘No.’ She gulped back the sweet coffee. ‘I’m sorry what I did brought you back here, against your will. I’m sorry you got dragged into all of this. But the curse is gone now – no more monk’s life for you.’

Abel held his bottom lip with his teeth. ‘I don’t feel different, though. Am I supposed to?’

Temperance shrugged. ‘Don’t know, sorry. Never lifted a centuries’ old curse before. There’s a first time for everything. But I felt something shift out there, in the flames. I sort of . . . bartered for it. A trade-off. And the storm certainly pissed off fast enough, so I’m taking that as a definite sign. These last weeks I’ve looked at you and felt doom, but now,’ she took a pause to really study him, his drawn brows, his darkening stubble, ‘I feel nothing.’

‘Um, thanks, I guess,’ he muttered, his eyes widening. ‘It’s a lot to process. This has been hanging over me my whole adult life and now – if it really is gone . . .’ He pulled the purple bow tie out from under his shirt collar and laid it next to the kettle.

Temperance’s eyes fell to the tie. The Temperance of yesterday could have held it in the palm of her hand and read all the big emotions at war in Abel’s head right now, giving her a shortcut to understanding him that would otherwise take forty-eight hours of deep and meaningful talk. Did he feel a whole new wave of revulsion knowing she was a witch? Was all this stuff about powers and curses and sacrifices just too much, sending his head spinning? The old Temperance could have held the tie and seen fear or despair or overwhelm or disgust. But using magic to jump to the front of the emotional queue hadn’t exactly done her many favours this summer. She felt blank without her powers, and perhaps once the reality sunk in she’d grieve it deeply, but for now that blankness felt light and refreshing.

No one’s fate was resting on her. The past was no longer chasing her down.