At Mrs Winkle’s door, I drew a deep breath and knocked.

‘Come,’ she called. I stepped in, carefully closing the door behind me.

‘Ah, Anna Kelly,’ she said, peering at me over her glasses. ‘I hope you’re here to tell me you’re coming to the witches’ workshop?’

‘Not exactly, Miss,’ I said, pulling threads out of the bottom of my jumper. ‘I’ve … I’ve got a bit of a problem.’

I told Mrs Winkle all about meeting Verbena in the woods, and about how she wanted me to join her coven on Saturday night, and how she got spiteful when I said no, and how she hypnotised Mary and threatened to take her instead …

Mrs Winkle frowned.

‘Hold on, hold on,’ she said. ‘Do you mean to tell me you’ve been approached by one of our more – unpleasant sisters?’

‘Yes, Miss,’ I said.

‘Why didn’t you banish her?’ said Mrs Winkle.

‘Banish her, Miss?’ I said.

‘The Banishing Spell?’ said Mrs Winkle. ‘Remember? From your Beginner Magic? Page 7?’

‘No, Miss,’ I said, thinking of the small blue book I’d thrown in the dustbin one particularly naughty night.

‘But it’s basic stuff, Anna!’ said Mrs Winkle. ‘You really should know that one by now!’

‘Yes, I think I remember seeing it,’ I lied. ‘How does it go again, Miss?’

Mrs Winkle stood up, straightened her skirt and held up her arms. Walking slowly in a circle, she chanted:

‘Great!’ I said, my hopes rising. ‘When Verbena comes back, I’ll just say that spell, gob on her, and she’ll disappear. Right, Miss?’

‘Wrong,’ said Mrs Winkle. My heart sank again.

‘It’s too late for the Banishing Spell now,’ said Mrs Winkle, sitting down behind her desk. ‘There’s a rule in witchcraft: Once you’ve spoken with a witch, you can’t banish her. You’ll just have to deal with her face-to-face.’

There was silence. I swallowed hard.

‘But you’ll help me,’ I whispered. ‘Won’t you, Miss?’

Mrs Winkle peered at me over the top of her glasses. Her blue eyes softened.

‘I’ll do my best for you, Anna,’ she said. ‘I’ll ring round and find out where this Verbena comes from and what she’s like.’

To be honest, I was hoping for something a bit more practical. Like for Mrs Winkle to come and trash Verbena and her coven on Saturday night.

As if reading my mind, Mrs Winkle laughed.

‘I can’t solve the problem for you, Anna,’ she said. ‘You’re a witch! You have to learn to deal with things like this by yourself.’

‘But how am I supposed to do that?’ I whined.

‘I hate to say “I told you so”, Anna – but I did!’ said Mrs Winkle. ‘You should have been practising all this time. Knowledge is power – don’t forget that! Now you’ve got yourself into this pickle, you’ll just have to work extra-hard at Protection Spells to guard Mary and yourself!’

My skin crawled with shame. There was no way I could confess to Mrs Winkle that I had thrown away Beginner Magic. She’d wash her hands of me completely.

‘Thanks, Miss,’ I said and turned to go.

The phone rang. Mrs Winkle picked it up.

‘Yes, Mrs Cuffy,’ she said into the phone. ‘You can give your whole class detention if you need to …’

As I waited for Mrs Winkle to finish, I trailed my finger along her desk. My fingers touched something smooth and leathery. I pushed aside the papers covering it. It was a blue workbook exactly like the one I’d thrown away, except this one was called Advanced Magic.

I glanced up to check that Mrs Winkle was still talking on the phone. Then I sneaked the book out from under the pile of papers and shoved it up my jumper.

As Mrs Winkle hung up, I opened the door and shot into the corridor.