I strode on with Harley, deciding not to allow her to roam free for now. The hedgerows were bustling and I didn’t fancy chasing after her again.

I squinted ahead. The milky evening light was surrendering to splashes of sleepy evening sun and darkness was not far away.

I thought again about Athena’s demands and her expectations of me. Every suggestion I was making for the Avanti feature was being met with derision and dismissal. It was a bloody mess. I should have listened to my inner voice. I should have declined the offer of the beauty writer job and taken my chances.

I buried myself deeper into my long-knitted scarf and thick winter jacket as my boots trampled through the bursts of grass taking me deeper into the thick haze of woodland. Merry Wood rose up ahead of us, its naked trees and cracked pots of heather waggling in the breeze.

Harley pulled on her lead. She gazed up at me, popping her dark eyes. “Oh, go on then,” I sighed, unclipping her lead. “But no taking off again after Freddie Fox, ok?”

Harley gave a swift waggle of her plume of a tail and made the most of her sudden freedom, gambolling ahead like a baby lamb towards Merry Wood. She reached the towering old fence that concealed the back garden and began to scrabble at a loose plank.

“Harley!” I hissed, glancing around for Lily Cruickshank. “You’ll get me into trouble. Stop that!”

We had only just arrived here and already she was desecrating the bloody place!

But she ignored me and continued to paddle her paws at the loose wood and the section of grass underneath it. Brown earth spluttered up behind her. I lunged forward with her lead. “Harley! If the Wicked Witch catches us, we’ll both be in big trouble!”

This didn’t deter her. She continued to dig, until the fragile section of wood made a cracking groan of surrender and flew off into the earth.

“Oh no! No, Harley!”

I yanked Harley away and made a feeble attempt to prop the broken-off section of wood back into place. I crouched down while Harley reared up on her back legs beside me. “Look at this! Look what you’ve done!”

I lowered my head and wedged the loose plank back in. Even if I could manage a temporary patch-up, hopefully Lily wouldn’t notice it. Maybe if I asked Dad to take a look at the fence for me…

Oh wow.

My jaw grew slack at the sight greeting me through the slender gap in the fence.

The grass was overgrown of course, poking up in long, brave swathes of acid green. But surrounding the lawns was a series of beautiful ivory statues. They depicted young, pensive women in flowing robes and streaming hair gazing at flowers cupped in their hands.