Lou’s hand went to her throat and she looked alarmed. Mike turned several shades paler under his orange tan, while Harriet swallowed and leapt towards the cameraman as if for safety.

‘Everyone needs to calm down,’ Barry said. ‘There’s nothing there.’ He glanced at me. ‘You’re seeing things, Ivy.’

‘I am not!’ I marched over to where he was and looked down. I blinked. He was right. What I’d seen as blood was nothing more than the shadow cast by a nearby bush.

‘What?’ I shook my head. ‘But the smell…’ I sniffed. There was nothing other than the rich scent of earthy goodness.

‘You’re tired. You’ve done a lot of magic today and you’re probably just hallucinating.’ Barry’s expression was kind. ‘We’ll get one of the medics to check you over.’

‘There was a sheep as well,’ I protested. ‘Lou saw it. She knows.’

The older woman shrugged. ‘It was just a sheep.’

‘But…’

Barry put his arm round me. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get you looked over and get you some rest and then you’ll be right as rain.’

I stared dumbly at him. ‘I was so sure….’

‘You’re letting your imagination run away with you. The person who hurt Benny is dead, Ivy. There’s nothing to worry about.’

It was the dead part that frightened me. I ran my hands through my hair. ‘Maybe I should lie down,’ I said shakily.

‘That sounds like a good idea.’ He patted my cheek soothingly.

An engine rumbled towards us from the nearby dirt road. One of the show’s doctors jumped out, followed closely by Belinda and Bellows. When I spotted Winter in the back, his blue eyes fixed on mine, a wash of relief came over me. At least someone was here who knew what they were doing.

The cameraman kept filming while the doctor pulled me over to one side. He checked my blood pressure and looked into my eyes. Belinda watched with a concerned expression. ‘Can you tell us what the problem is?’ she finally asked, when it appeared that he had finished his ministrations.

‘She’s exhausted,’ the doctor pronounced. He raised his eyebrows in what I could only presume was admonishment. ‘Lay off the unnecessary magic spells and you’ll be fine.’

I mumbled an agreement. It didn’t make sense. I’d tired myself out on more than one occasion by going overboard with spells but I’d never hallucinated before. And the spells I’d conducted today hadn’t been all that elaborate, even if there had been more of them than I was used to doing. I’d been up half the night being attacked by a zombie up a mountain, though, so there was that.

‘Can she continue on as a contestant?’ Bellows enquired.

‘I don’t see why not,’ the doctor replied.

I could swear Bellows looked disappointed. I glanced over at him. ‘No cat?’

He pursed his lips. ‘It’s run off somewhere. It’ll be back. It knows it’s onto a good thing with me.’

I only just managed to stop myself snorting. Catching Winter’s eye as he finally got out of the car, I muttered something about a call of nature and struggled up to find a handy bush to hide behind. Fortunately Winter got the message and followed, albeit at a discreet distance. Going to the loo seemed to be about the only chance I’d have to avoid being filmed.