When we get back to the store tent, Dad’s not there, but he’s left the campfire smouldering. On the table is a covered dish of his famous pancakes, a bowl of fruit salad and a note: T. Come and find me after your breakfast. Jam in esky. Love Dad. xxx

Sylvie reads the note over my shoulder. ‘You need to steer clear of your dad until I can figure out a way to stay longer.’

Is it possible that Dad knows I’ve been out learning magic with Sylvie? My throat tightens at the thought.

I spread a pancake with Mum’s mulberry jam and close my eyes for a moment. Thank you Mother Nature for these pancakes and this jam. I’m sorry for killing that beautiful tree.

Sylvie pours herself a cup of tea from the billy and settles back in Dad’s chair with a smile. ‘You know, consequences and the poor tree aside, it’s actually pretty fabulous what you did up there.’

‘Why’s it fabulous?’ I realise that I want to impress Sylvie. I want her to like me.

She takes a sip of tea. It looks like she’s weighing up how much to tell me. ‘To be honest,’ she says, ‘you’re possibly the most powerful magician I’ve met. But you have no idea what you are doing and no ability to manage your power. If you can learn to contain it, one day that power will do incredible things for you and the people around you.’

The most powerful magician she’s ever met? I stare at her as an electric thrill hums through me and goosebumps spring from my skin. She sees me, I think to myself. She sees me for who I really am and the magician I’ll become. Mum and Dad, on the other hand, are stuck with an idea of me as a little girl.

Sylvie says, ‘Just remember, learning magic is not easy, Tulsi. After fifteen years of no magic, I’m having to learn it all over again. It’s hard.’

‘Is it because I’m powerful that I can learn enough magic in a few weeks to bring Mum home when it’s going to take you a year to get your magic back?’

She smiles. ‘Kind of. Your magic has been sitting there, you know, quietly bubbling away even though you haven’t been using it. My magic battery has been dead for longer than you’ve been alive, so it will take a long time to charge it up again.’

‘Right. Where did you go when they sent you away?’

‘Oh, various places.’ She wafts a hand around in the air. ‘New Zealand. Chile. But I ended up in Finland for the last few years.’

‘And why did Mum and the others strip you of magic?’ I ask. ‘What did you do?’