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‘Then . . . he was lucky enough to find a magical fairy ring of fairy apprentices on this special fairy day. And they told him if he promised to stop being bad,’ Temperance put one hand to her hip and waved her wand in front of his face, ‘to stop being so grumpy and monosyllabic, to remember the good fairy he once was, then they could cure him with an enchanted ice pop . . .’

Abel’s shoulders relaxed.

‘. . . after we perform the sacred fairy dance one more time.’

He groaned.

‘Let’s hold hands.’ Temperance ushered the kids into a circle. Without really looking or thinking, Abel lifted his hand at his side out to her. Temperance stared at his palm, before grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him into the middle of the ring. He could feel how tightly her finger tips dug into his shoulder blades for just a second. ‘You stand there, Bad Fairy.’

The children giggled and trapped Abel in their ring-o-roses.

‘And now we chant: You’re a good fairy, you’re a good fairy, you’re a good fairy!’ Her minions quickly joined in, voices sweet but commanding.

‘And now you say,’ she locked her eyes onto his with intensity, her forehead furrowed. It was clear that complying was his only option. ‘I’m a good fairy, I’m a . . .?’

‘Good fairy,’ Abel breathed.

‘Bit louder.’ Her voice was firm, but with a lilt of teasing to it.

‘Good fairy.’ He wanted the paper-mâché toad stool ring to spontaneously burst into flame and take him down with it.

‘Can’t quite hear you.’

‘I’m a good fairy!’ Some of the parents looked over, one barely hiding their laughter behind a newspaper.

Temperance clapped, bouncing on the spot. Abel found himself watching the way it made the thick curls in her hair bounce too. ‘That should do it. An ice pop is the final magical ingredient and then he’s cured. Hooray!’ The mini fairies all cheered. ‘Now . . . hang on, I’ve left the cold box in my . . . er, fairy freezer.’ She squinted for a minute. ‘You all line up behind Bad—Good Fairy, wait here and I’ll be back in a jiff. A magical jiff.’

A scrambled queue came together in no time and Temperance was heading off to the porch before Abel could say anything to stop her. Ten pairs of beady eyes turned on him.

It was slow-moving, carrying out the cold box full of ice lollies, which would have been heavy on a good day. But today Temperance was also wearing a dress that weighed the same as a small pony. It took her a good fifteen minutes to get from the kitchen back to The Witch’s Nose porch, even when she was subtly using her powers to pick up a little of the heavy petticoats when she was sure she couldn’t be seen. She was doubly glad she’d asked Stevie to take off the red satin belt earlier – that was not complication she needed in Mary Poppins mode. Stevie had made Temperance swear to put it back on before the party started though, because it would be an ‘affront to accessories everywhere’ if she didn’t perfect her look.

The pillowy comfort of the love wrapped up in the dress had Temperance feeling so confident and centred that entertaining a rabble of sugar-fuelled kids had been a breeze today. And she’d only had a slight wobble when she saw Abel coming to join them.

It’s lucky I don’t care what I look like in front of him, Temperance thought to herself. Because my face is probably beetroot right now and my eyeliner is possibly somewhere near my ears. But I don’t care. So that’s handy.

As she nudged open the heavy pub door with her bum and swung the box around through it, her breath caught in her throat. Abel lay on the green, spread-eagle, face down. The kids were all stood around the edge of the grass, as if terrified to go near him. They just stared, silently. None of the parents relaxing nearby were moving either.

Oh my god. It’s happened. The doom. It found him – I’m too late.

Temperance could feel her heart beat in her ears. She let the cold box drop to the floor with an almighty thud, hauled up her skirts as best as she could and sprinted towards the green.

No, no! I didn’t get a chance . . . I was going to fix this . . . I can’t lose him again!

Her brain was tumbling through what she knew of CPR, if there might be a doctor on holiday nearby, if you could call 999 and say ‘I think some magic has taken out my first love – help!’

It can’t end like this. It can’t.

As she raced back past one of the kids, she heard a squeaky voice say, ‘Not fair! He didn’t say go yet!’

‘WHO disturbs my SLUMBER?!’ Abel raised his head and yelled, jumping up to his feet with unbelievable agility for someone so tall and who Temperance could have sworn was dead three seconds ago. She stopped in her tracks, treading on the hem of the dress and nearly losing her balance. Abel held out his finger, pointing at the boy who’d complained as Temperance rushed in front of him.

‘The dragon will eat this one first! Then the rest! Arrgggghhhhh!’

There was a chorus of happy squealing as the children starting running in all directions, back and forth over the grass. Abel flapped his long arms and took chase after them. When he caught Temperance’s eye his cheeks coloured and he hesitated for a moment. But she shrugged and waved her hand at her outfit, as if to say there was no shame in being ridiculous for a tiny audience, so off he roared. Slowly, her heart rate dropped to something like normal and she tried to discreetly rub away the sweat that had gathered between her cleavage, under the dress’s tight corset.

Once all the kids had been caught with a soft tag to the top of the head and had had their chance to do a noisy, over-the-top death scene, Temperance shouted, ‘Time for a snack. Any zombies here that like ice pops?’

She opened up the cool box to a pile of almost-neon coloured frozen treats.