But what if the spell was like a weapon – which she’d intended to use against her father – and then she’d thought she’d made it safe by moving it, but she hadn’t? Perhaps it was like a gun that she hadn’t successfully unloaded, or like a bomb. Yes, supposing it was like a time bomb, resting in its hiding place until its victim withdrew it and set it ticking? But then she had taken it from the gap in the wall and she – the one who had cast the spell – had ‘set it ticking’ and the poor sheep and their lambs had been the victims!

Could this possibly be what had happened? It seemed such a strange idea on this beautiful sunny evening, thin white clouds high above, all the usual innocent sounds of the fields around her.

But she had cast the spell, she had believed it was for real then, and the intent to cause harm had been in her mind.

She closed her eyes and curled up so that her forehead rested on her knees, trying to think through what she had done. All she knew was that she hadn’t wanted to kill the sheep and their lambs – if, indeed, she had.

And if she had killed them …?

That meant the spell was real, that the book of spells she’d stolen was real. It meant that she had cast a spell. She had that power! What yesterday had seemed at first real and desperate, then silly and even a bit mad, now assumed a certainty. It had gone wrong this time because she’d been careless and not realised what she was doing. Nor had she understood the power she had conjured up. She vowed not to make that mistake again. She didn’t want to hurt any more animals.

When she cast the next spell, she’d be sure to be very, very careful. Because she knew there would be a ‘next time’.

With this strange new power that she didn’t really understand, and a job at the Hall in the personal employ of Mrs Stellion herself, how quickly her life had changed, and for the better, in just a day. It was a shame about the sheep but it couldn’t be helped. Who knew what tomorrow would bring? Gina could hardly wait to find out.

CHAPTER THREE