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Two hours later, an empty wine gum bag beneath Temperance’s feet and every shred of conversation they could explore been and gone, the sisters crawled past a big, red Range Rover, its two left wheels somehow two-foot high into the hedgerow and the vehicle now stuck at an unhappy angle.

A middle-aged man with thick gold bracelets had his head in his hands just in front of it.

A tractor driver in the next-door field slowed down and yelled out the window, ‘You can’t park there, mate! ’

‘I KNOW!’ the man shouted back, his voice croaky with emotion.

‘Now then, I’m only pulling your leg. I’ve called my son: he’s coming with some chains and we’ll pull you out. Don’t go anywhere!’ He chuckled and the Range Rover man’s face went as red as his paintwork.

‘Now just another ninety minutes of driving and we’ll be there,’ Susie grumbled. ‘You sure we couldn’t have just bought some dried herbs online?’

‘Do you want to wait five-to-seven working days while Mark sneaks about with his plans for East Prawle? Besides, the kind of quantities we need might have . . . alerted authorities.’

‘What do you mean?’

Temperance pulled out her phone and read from the screen. ‘ Atropa belladonna . Attractive, psychoactive, dangerous.’

‘That would make quite a good Tinder profile,’ Susie cut in, but Temperance only rolled her eyes and kept going.

‘Heart-shaped leaves and purple flowers. The toxins within can cause hallucinations, paralysis and even death. Atropa comes from Atropos , one of the Three Fates in Greek Mythology who could bring death at will.’

Susie swallowed. ‘Sheesh. Hence all the rubber gloves and face masks?’

Temperance nodded. ‘I’m taking no chances. If we park up at the location I gave you, then walk as deep as we can into the woodland, I reckon we’ll be way off the beaten track and we won’t bump into anyone.’

‘Sounds like a plan to me.’

The plan shouldn’t have involved two wrong turns, a loo break stop and a refuel too, but it did, and after all that, dusk was falling as Susie parked the car in a stony layby close to the postcode Temperance had found.

‘Did you bring torches, by any chance?’

‘Nope. Phones will have to do.’

‘Right. We’d better go quick then, while there’s still a tiny bit of light.’

‘We’ll be fine . It won’t take us that long.’

Within ten minutes of trudging into the woods, clambering over a bent-down wire fence, the thick canopy overhead drank up the little pinkish light still available and the sisters were waving their phone torches around, swerving tree trunks that loomed up out of nowhere and trying not to fall into the clutches of bramble bushes.

Susie flinched, looking over her shoulder. ‘Was that a . . . howl ?!’

‘Suse. Get a grip, love. Probably just a pigeon. Or an owl.’

‘A growling owl?!’

‘There was no growl. Just keep walking. I think this way is good.’

‘You think? ’

‘I just . . . feel it. Like we’re going somewhere really, truly wild. The kind of place magic gravitates to. Ahead for maybe ten more minutes.’

A creature sounded again, not too far away, with a rustle of leaves. Even Temperance had to admit it sounded a bit wolf-like. She kept her eyes on the tiny beam of light in front of her and her mind on tracking down those heart-shaped leaves.

After a dozen more stumbling steps, the trees cleared into a rough circle.

Temperance felt something flutter in the base of her throat.

‘We’re here. I know it. This is the spot.

Start looking for the flowers. Really deep purple and a bell shape.

Gloves first, though!’ She flung a pair of marigolds at her little sister.

‘You didn’t fancy those nice little suede driving gloves from the shop? I’ve got a soft spot for those.’

‘Wasn’t thinking fashion. I was thinking deadly poisons.’

Temperance crouched down and gently walked her fingers through the undergrowth, her eyes searching intently.

Again something jostled the bushes behind them, a blur moved through the undergrowth, and Susie twitched at the noise. ‘OK, what the fuck. Something has followed us, Tee!’

‘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.’

Susie was speechless, her mouth opening and closing like one of the crazy golf obstacles in the theme park. ‘It isn’t?’

A laugh at the back of her throat caught Temperance by surprise. Soon, she had her hands braced against her thighs, doubled up with laughter at the fact they were arguing about who was the biggest idiot. It was clearly a photo-finish situation.

Susie could barely breathe, she was laughing so hard, tears running down her cheeks. ‘The Beast of Bodmin . . . is a . . . a . . . sausage dog! Hahahaha!’

Temperance pushed her marigolds against her collarbone. ‘Oh god, I needed that. Phew. I suppose we’d better crack on, in case that vicious guard dog comes back.’

‘And Pooky.’

‘Ha! Better put on the masks, too, while we’re at it. You ready, Professor Sprout?’

Susie shook her head. ‘I’m never going to live this down, am I?’

‘Not in this century. Cut close to the ground, remember. We need plenty of that free poison if we’re going to throw Mark off his dirty little game.’