“It gives us a bit of privacy,” said Ian, winking. “We’d get none of it at the main house, I promise you. But you,” he added hastily, as if he had just remembered he was supposed to be making the house sound appealing to her, “will have plenty of privacy at the main house if you decide to stay with us.”

Mika looked between them, tried valiantly to repress a smile, and said, very firmly, “I’m afraid I’m going to need some answers before I decide anything. You were extraordinarily mysterious in my inbox. Deliberately, I suspect.”

“There are some things one doesn’t want in writing,” said Ian unapologetically. His eyes crinkled at the corners. “But we are so very grateful you came all this way just to have this conversation, my dear. You can’t imagine how much we need you.”

“Do you actually need a live-in tutor?”

“Yes.” Ken answered the question before Ian could, possibly (and correctly) guessing that Mika was more likely to believe him. “Come with us to the main house and you’ll see why.” He draped his apron over the stone wall and started to lead the way up the rest of the driveway.

“Am I okay to park here while we’re at the house?”

“Yes, of course,” said Ian. “We normally leave our cars in the barn, which you’re welcome to do if you move in, but you’re fine where you are for now.”

Mika glanced back once at the gates, at the spot where she’d felt that peculiar, unlikely crackle of magic. Was she imagining that glimmer of gold dust in the air?

“Mika?”

She looked away quickly, locked the Broomstick, and followed the two men across the smooth pebbles of the driveway.

Ian jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “Something at the gates caught your eye?”

“Not at all,” Mika said at once.

“Hmm,” said Ian, sounding amused.

Ken turned to her as she drew up with them. “Do you know anything about Lillian Nowhere?” he asked.

Mika shook her head. “Should I?”

“No, probably not. Lillian is an archaeologist, and the owner of Nowhere House.”

“Oh, am I supposed to be meeting her?”

“No, Lillian’s away at the moment,” Ian told her. “She usually is. She tends to be home for a few weeks, then away for a few months, then back here for a few weeks, and so on. This time, it’s an excavation in South America. That’s why the house and the children are in our care.”

“Yours and Ken’s care?” Mika frowned, struggling to believe that they were living in a cottage while three children lived alone in the big house.