I tripped off the stage like the good little contestant I was supposed to be. However, the tight knot of worry I felt at what was in that damn vial was quickly becoming a full-blown panic attack.

Chapter Thirteen

So much time was spent on the initial interviews and Belinda’s set pieces that there wasn’t chance to sneak off and find Winter. Instead, with the cameras rolling, I was unceremoniously dumped into a team of four: me, Mike the Muscle Man, Harriet the Hater and Lovely Lou. I supposed it could have been worse – but not much.

Retrieving our challenge envelope, Mike ripped it open and started to read. ‘Your first task is to survive the wilds. Find yourself shelter for the night and stay safe from the elements. There will be significant disadvantages given to the last team to set up camp.’

Excellent. ‘I know where shelter is,’ I declared. ‘My hotel is about ten miles that way. We just need to hitchhike in that direction and we’ll be there in no time.’

Harriet rolled her eyes, while Mike produced a map and waved it at me. ‘We’ve been given several choices,’ he said. ‘And none of them involves going back to Tomintoul and getting a hotel.’

I couldn’t see why not. It was creative. And there’d be a duvet. Not to mention hot running water. I suspected that the choices displayed on the map would be considerably less comfortable.

Ruing the day I’d agreed to do this, which I was very much aware was still today, I peered over his shoulder. Good grief. We’d be up for half the night. And I wasn’t forgetting that this was Enchantment. There was bound to be some magical stuff to contend with before we could bed down for the night. That was the formula.

‘This one.’ Mike jabbed his thumb at the nearest marker. ‘We pick up now and head straight there. It’s the closest.’

He really was an idiot. ‘It’s up a mountain. It might be the closest but it’ll take us longest to get there. We need to be smart about this.’

He stared at my breasts. ‘We go there. I’ve made the decision.’

My eyebrows flew up. He had, had he? ‘Look,’ I said, ‘I’m a taxi driver. I know how to read maps. I do it every day.’ I was lying about the last part; I use sat nav. That doesn’t mean I can’t orienteer myself when I really need to.

‘I thought you were a witch. Why would a woman drive a taxi?’

Harriet’s lip curled. ‘Sure she’s a witch but all she can do is bespell clothing.’ She sniffed. ‘So why she’s wearing that, goodness only knows.’

She was right here. Except I simply didn’t have the energy for an argument, much as I wanted to bop Mike on the nose for being sexist as well as stupid. I pushed back my hair and sighed. ‘Please,’ I said. ‘Don’t be plonkers. If we head for the nearest point, it will take hours. This is not as the crow flies. We don’t have wings. We still have to get there.’ I turned to Lou. ‘Help me out here.’