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Jacob at least had coffee, and in the end, they left Charlotte’s car parked against the pavement and walked over to her place. Eight inches of snow had fallen overnight, and the only vehicles they saw were a few tractors and a council snow plough. Harry was delighted to see both of them. While Jacob took him out into the back garden, Charlotte made some phone calls to see who could come out and fix her car.

While he watched the dog nosing about in the snow-covered bushes, Jacob wondered what he could do about James. Perhaps he could ask the organisers to cancel his stepbrother’s performance? But then, it seemed like James’s wicked trick to make Father Christmas disappear and replace him with a demonic Krampus wasn’t part of the schedule. He was likely to do it anyway.

When he came back in, he explained to Charlotte what he had seen in the theatre the day before.

‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘He really does have it in for everyone, doesn’t he?’

‘He’s like a juggernaut,’ Jacob said. ‘I don’t know what I can do to stop him.’

Charlotte rubbed her chin. ‘Maybe you can’t,’ she said.

‘All those children will be so disappointed.’

‘He’s planning to prank us,’ Charlotte said. ‘So why don’t we get in there first, and prank him instead?’

‘How?’

‘Well … he’s planning to make Father Christmas disappear, isn’t he? Why don’t we just make the entire festival disappear instead?’

Jacob stared at her. ‘What?’

‘I have an idea,’ she said. ‘Let me make a phone call. It’ll need to be a coordinated effort, so we’ll need to get everyone involved in the festival onboard. How about we arrange a meeting in your aunt’s tearoom?’

Jacob glanced at his phone, on the table, plugged into Charlotte’s charger. ‘Let me give her a call,’ he said.