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bicycle, and then it took both of them working together to unplow the lawn where Roger had hit it, so Cat never saw how Joss got Syracuse back to the stables. He gathered it took a long time and a lot of peppermints. After that, Joss went to the Castle and asked to speak to Chrestomanci.
    As a result, next morning when Janet and Julia came into the stableyard self-consciously wearing their new riding clothes, Chrestomanci was there too, in a dressing gown of tightly belted black silk with sprays of scarlet chrysanthemums down the back. Cat was with him because Chrestomanci had asked him to be there.
    â€œIt seems that Wizard Prendergast has sold us a very unreliable horse,” Chrestomanci said to the girls. “My feeling is that we should sell Syracuse for dog meat and try again.”
    They were horrified. Janet said, “Not dog meat !” and Julia said, “We ought to give him a chance , Daddy!” Cat said, “That’s not fair.”
    â€œThen I rely on you, Cat,” Chrestomanci said. “I suspect you are better at horse magics than I am.”
    Joss Callow led Syracuse out, saddled and bridled. Syracuse reeked of peppermint and looked utterly bored. In the morning sunlight he was sensationally good looking. Julia exclaimed. But Janet, to her own great shame, discovered there and then that she was one of those people who are simply terrified of horses. “He’s enormous !” she said, backing away.
    â€œOh, nonsense!” said Julia. “His head’s only abit higher than yours is. Get on him. I’ll give you first go.”
    â€œI—I can’t,” Janet said. Cat was surprised to see she was shaking.
    Chrestomanci said, “Given the creature’s exploits yesterday, I think you are very wise.”
    â€œI’m not wise,” Janet said. “I’m just scared silly. Oh, what a waste of new riding clothes!” She burst into tears and ran away into the Castle, where she hid in an empty room.
    Millie found her there, sitting on the unmade bed sobbing. “Don’t take it so hard, my love,” she said, sitting beside Janet. “A lot of people find they can’t get on with horses. I don’t think Chrestomanci can, you know. He always says he hates them because of the way they smell, but I think it’s more than that.”
    â€œBut I feel so ashamed!” Janet wept. “I went on and on about being a famous rider and now I can’t even go near the horse!”
    â€œBut how could you possibly know that until you tried?” Millie asked. “No one can help the way they’re made, my love. You just have to think of something you’re good at doing instead.”
    â€œBut,” said Janet, coming to the heart of hershame, “I made such a fuss that I made Chrestomanci spend all that money on a horse, and all for nothing !”
    â€œI think I heard Julia making quite as much fuss,” Millie remarked. “We’d have bought the horse for her in the end, you know.”
    â€œAnd these clothes,” Janet said. “So expensive . And I shall never wear them again.”
    â€œNow that is silly,” Millie told her. “Clothes can be given to someone else. It will take me five minutes and the very minimum of magic to make them into a second set for Julia—or for anyone else who wants to ride. Roger might decide he wants to, you know.”
    Janet found herself giving a weak giggle at the thought of Roger sitting on Syracuse in her clothes. It seemed the most impossible thing in all the Related Worlds.
    â€œThat’s better,” said Millie.
    Meanwhile, Chrestomanci said, “Well, Julia? You seem to have this horse all to yourself.”
    Julia happily approached Syracuse. She attended carefully to the instructions Joss Callow gave her, gathered up the reins, put her foot in the stirrup, and managed to get herself into thesaddle. “It feels awfully high up,” she