“Of course,” said Mika. She wondered if Terracotta, who was glaring absolute daggers at her, would even turn up to the lessons. “We’ll start after breakfast tomorrow.”

But where would they start? Mika had no idea. She’d been thinking about it almost constantly for days and still wasn’t sure how she was going to tackle these lessons. She wasn’t a teacher, and she certainly wasn’t a teacher of magic, and it wasn’t like there were handy lesson plans available to download online. Yes, she’d already done a bit of teaching today, but that had been out of necessity.

She was out of her depth. She would do her best, but she knew she was out of her depth. Had she made a mistake in not telling Primrose?

Fortunately, before she could get too lost in self-doubt, Ken had a question for her. “Do you know what you’d like to do this afternoon? You’re more than welcome to come to the cottage for tea if you find yourself at a loose end.”

“I’d love that,” Mika said. “I could pop over after I’ve taken Circe for a walk.” She smiled at the girls. “I thought I might let her have a run on the beach. Would the three of you like to come along?”

She expected Terracotta to reject this proposition instantly, but it came as a surprise when it was Jamie who said, quickly and a little too sharply, “No.”

Mika blinked. The others fell silent.

Jamie looked like he regretted speaking, but he cleared his throat and went on, without looking at anybody. “I need the kids’ help in the library this afternoon.”

“Next time, then,” Mika said to the girls, her smile pinned in place so that they wouldn’t pick up on the chill in the air.

It was obvious to her, and quite possibly to everyone except the children themselves, that Jamie didn’t need the girls’ help in the library.

He just didn’t want them going anywhere with her.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Mika went down to the sea as planned that afternoon. She went in her wellies (because thorns were thorns even if you were a witch), with her phone and tiny, sharp herb shears in the pockets of her dress. All of her clothes had pockets, even if she’d had to sew them in herself.

Circe bounded ahead over the dunes and down to the empty beach, heading straight for the water, while Mika paused to snip a handful of sea holly heads off a shrub, right above the node so that they’d grow back. She was surprised they were still flowering; like the riotously golden sunflowers in the back garden, the sea holly was blooming well out of season. It had to be because of the sheer amount of magic gathered around Nowhere House.