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‘It hasn’t!’

A howl sounded behind them. ‘I swear! What if it’s a magical space guarded by a magical thing? I saw something black and hairy move over there. How far are we from Bodmin?’

Temperance tutted and kept up her mission. ‘Far enough that the Beast would need a good bus ticket to get all the way here. Are you helping or what?’

Susie shivered. ‘I’m freaking out, though! Anything could happen out here and what would we do? Fight off a giant, raging beast with a pair of secateurs?’

Now Temperance could feel the dark trees closing in on her, twigs snapping not far away, a snuffling, getting closer and closer-

‘Wait!’ Susie grabbed her sister’s arm.

‘Quiet! You’re giving us away!!’ Temperance hissed.

‘Not that. Heart-shaped leaves, just over there, see?’

The sisters moved as one, hearts racing in unison, flashes of their phone lights showing the sway of heavy purple blooms hanging over smooth, luscious leaves. Seductive, worryingly so.

‘I knew I felt it,’ Temperance whispered to herself, her squeaking rubber gloves reaching out, her fingers almost at the leaves.

‘Rufffff!’

‘SHIT!’ Susie screamed, falling backwards into thorny branches. Temperance threw her arms up in front of her face, stealing her breath for what was about to attack.

‘Pooky!’ a sing-song voice sailed over them. ‘Where are you? Oh, hello. Are you all right?’

A wet panting under her chin made Temperance open her eyes again. A mini Dachshund was licking her knee while happily, heavily breathing.

Under one of the trees a woman in a bright green parka stood, a head torch on a blue strap around her forehead and a dog lead held at her hips. ‘Pooky, don’t bother that woman. Heal!’

The dog skipped off, giving a high-pitched howl in delight as he headbutted his owner’s shins.

‘Hate to be a killjoy but the main bit of the park is closed, you know. I can show you out through the dog walker’s footpath. With all this huge woodland on the premises they let us have free range.’

‘The park?’ Susie wheezed, untangling herself from a persistent vine.

The woman pointed her thumb over her shoulder. ‘Woodlands Theme Park.’ She squinted in their direction. ‘Had a day on the Pirate’s Ship, have we? Bit . . . dizzy?’

‘Tell me you did not just Google “woodland” and then followed the first postcode you found?’ Susie muttered, loud enough just for Temperance to hear.

Temperance suddenly wished for the ferocious force of Pooky again, to keep her safe in the face of a narked sister.

‘Stop,’ the dogwalker said sharply, and Susie’s jaw hung down silently, assuming she was about to get told off for petty squabbles. ‘You need to stand up and move, right away – that’s all deadly nightshade there in the undergrowth. You shouldn’t go anywhere near it.’

‘The funny thing is, it’s precisely why we’re here. We’re going to harvest it to use in some experimental magic: to turn a super ambitious man into a meek little kitten who only wants to nap. Magic is in our blood. We’re witches! So all good in the hood.’

That’s what Temperance would have loved to have said, if only because it involved less brain power than trying to come up with a convincing lie.

Luckily, Susie leapt in, ‘Yes, you’re right! It is deadly nightshade. The colloquial name, of course. We are herbologists. At the University of Exeter. And we’re here to collect some samples for . . . lab work. Hence the safety equipment.’ She waved her rubber-clad hands. ‘Sorry to have alarmed you.’

The woman hesitated before turning on the spot and moving away, crinkling in her parka. ‘Well, good luck. Come on, Pooky.’ She disappeared back into the trees.

After five minutes or so, Susie risked a hiss at her big sister. ‘No one around, you said! A magic you could just feel?! Turns out it must have been the smell of candyfloss in the air, tingling your Spidey senses or whatever. Christ, Tee. We were so nearly busted! Luckily I can think on the spot. Luckily my intuition hasn’t gone completely arse over tit.’

Temperance’s eyes went wild and her cheeks flared with anger. ‘You were happy enough to let me do all the planning in the first place! Didn’t see you offering all your genius intuition then.’

‘I’ve been pretty focused on saving our home, if you remember. And I didn’t see you offering to drive any of the four-hour-long mission to get here, hey?!’

‘And herbology isn’t a THING!’ Temperance all but roared. ‘It’s from Harry sodding Potter! It’s not an actual university subject.’