If there was one thing that Mildred's old co-workers were good at, it was making Mildred laugh. The girls soon had Mildred wiping away her tears and giggling, remembering a trick the four of them had pulled on Miss Tapioca the chef, when they worked together the previous summer. Mildred sniffled, smiling at her friends. "I'm so glad you're still here," she said. "I don't know how I would have coped with the prospect of working alone all day with HB."

"What does HB even mean?" Enid asked.

"H for hard. B for broom." Maud said pompously, proud that she had managed to work it out.

Mildred shrugged. "Esme said it earlier. Hardbroom being abbreviated to HB makes sense. By the way, your sister is really nice, Ethel. She made me feel so welcome this morning!"

Ethel made a face at the mention of her older sister. "It sounds like HB is more of a horrid bully than a hard broom." She tossed her blonde pontytail behind her shoulders haughtily.

The waitresses laughed some more and Mildred told them all about the weeding and the tour of the outbuildings. Her friends listened with rapt attention. They all had aspirations of exciting careers post graduation, and Mildred starting her dream job made that path a little bit more believable.

Feeling suitably comforted by her friends, and perhaps naively optimistic for the remainder of the day, Mildred left the cafe laden with a brown paper bag full of freshly baked sausage rolls and a small bottle of orange juice. She absentmindedly thumbed the green plastic ring under the lid of the bottle as she navigated the grassy paths around the outbuildings before the unassuming grey door to the staff room appeared in view. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and walked in.

Mildred blinked and took in her surroundings. The staff room had clearly seen better days. With its array of lumpy looking armchairs and mismatched wooden furniture, it looked more like a dusty antiques shop than a functional room. She looked for a friendly face, but the only person she recognised was Hecate. Reluctantly, Mildred walked towards her mentor.

"Ah, young Mildred!" An elderly gentleman stood up from his armchair and clasped her free hand in his. "My wife, Gwendolyn Bat, asked me to keep an eye out for you," he gripped her hand tightly, his smile creasing his kind eyes. "My name is Algernon Rowan-Webb. How have you found your first day so far?"

Mildred smiled gratefully at the good-natured man. "It's been so cool to see behind the scenes, I had no idea that there were researchers working here too. I love how much green space there is, it feels like another planet in comparison to the city. Although, it's such a shame about all of the weeds. I would have liked to do some proper gardening, rather than weeding."

Hecate looked up from her bowl of soup and stared scathingly at the interaction. "You will soon learn that weeding is an intrinsic task in gardening," she said brusquely. "Mildred, as you are clearly not satisfied with my ways of working, you will spend the remainder of you your afternoon working on the pond with Algernon."

Mildred gawked at the woman with an open mouth. It seemed so cruel of her to brush her apprentice off quite so quickly.

"Or perhaps, rather than helping to maintain the pond from the shore, you are thinking of joining in with the fish?" Hecate said.

Mildred closed her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that I wasn't enjoying myself," she attempted to explain. "I know weeding is important, I just didn't picture that it would be such a big part of the job."

Hecate glared at her for a moment longer before returning to her lunch.

Algernon sent her a sympathetic look. "I'd be more than happy to show you the ropes young tadpole."

Before Mildred could reply, someone else caught her attention. "Psst, Mildred. Over here!"

Mildred turned to see Esme standing next to a sagging grey sofa with another woman who was wearing black overalls and bright blue wellington boots. She smiled and walked over to join them. "I'm so glad to see you," she told the researcher. "I think I've annoyed Hecate even more."

The woman next to Esme snorted. "Don't worry, Hecate just doesn't like change. She thinks the craft is doomed to die out with us - sometimes I think she thinks that she is the only gardener to uphold the rigorous standards of the Gardeners' Code." She shook her head derisively. "Anyway, emotions are running especially high with the weeding, we're all exhausted. By the way, I'm Dimity. I'm an arborist, which as Hecate says, is just a glorified tree surgeon. I've always had a head for heights you see. If you ever need to know anything about trees, just ask."

Mildred shook Dimity's hand politely. "I didn't know there was a Gardeners' Code," she said, "Do you know where I could find a copy?" Mildred privately thought that she would do anything to get into Hecate's good books, even if that meant spending hours reading tiresome documents.

"It's a sort of guide on when to plant which plants and how to care for them, there is also a section on how to conduct yourself as a gardener and how to interact with others. Every gardener that practices the Craft must uphold these standards." Dimity produced a dark green leather bound copy of the Code after rummaging through a nearby chest of drawers. It was embossed with gold lettering and an image of a tree Mildred recognised immediately as the tree by the entrance of the botanical gardens. The pages were edged with the same gold, giving the book an air of great importance. Dimity covertly passed the book to Mildred to peruse. "Here, you can borrow my copy. Don't let Hecate know you haven't read it yet - she'll have your guts for garters!"

Mildred giggled and stowed the beautiful book away safely in her backpack. She wanted to ask Dimity more about her job and the Code but was interrupted by the entrance of someone she held very dear. Ada Cackle gave a twinkly eyed smile to her gardening staff as she entered the room. She gave Mildred's shoulder a gentle squeeze as she walked past and sent her a friendly nod whilst gesturing to everyone else to sit down.

"Thank you all for your continued commitment to removing our little weed issue. Before we begin our meeting, I would like to welcome our newest gardener-"

"Apprentice." Hecate muttered.

"Yes, thank you Hecate. Our newest apprentice gardener, Mildred Hubble. I hope you have been made to feel very welcome, Mildred." She wrung her hands together. "Now, the reason I have called this meeting today is not quite as positive. You see, we have had a series of complaints from visitors that the gardens are not up to their usual standard. I understand this to be down to the plague of weeds, and I know each and every one of you are doing your utmost to keep them at bay. However, if we are losing loyal visitors, we are also losing much needed funding. I am afraid if this continues and we can't find a solution, we will have to start closing off sections of the garden, and eventually, close down..." Ada trailed off sadly.

A ripple of shock passed through the gardeners. Each and every gardener was working their fingers to the bone to remove weeds every morning, coming in early and staying late to keep them at bay. Dimity shook her head in disbelief and Algernon looked furious. Mildred noticed a few tears slide down Pippa's cheek, and was surprised to see Hecate take her hand and give it a sympathetic squeeze.

Ada continued. "I was hoping to use this time to put our heads together and try to find a more effective solution. With our collective experience, we must be able to think of something."

"Ada we have tried everything." Hecate said, exasperated. "The weeds are simply too overwhelming for such a small team. Perhaps you are correct, we will have to close off our less popular sections."

At this, Pippa burst into a stream of tears and left her seat to make a pot of tea.

"I think I might have an idea." Mildred said in a small voice. The gardeners collectively looked at her. She could feel their eyes burning into her skull and she glanced down at her lap, embarrassed.

"Go on, Mildred," said Ada encouragingly.

"It was just what Hecate said about the team being small, what if we had more hands to remove the weeds?" she asked.

Hecate snorted, not wanting to be associated with whatever it was that Mildred was going to say. "Ada, this is ridiculous. She is clearly not taking the matter seriously."

Mildred cleared her throat. "I mean, what if we could get more people to help? I used to go to a zoo with my mum because I was obsessed with the penguins. I would always run straight to see them when we went." Hecate grimaced at Mildred's childish story, failing to see the relevance. Unperturbed, Mildred continued "They had an option where you could pay to be a zookeeper for a day and one year my mum got it for me as a Christmas present. I ended up helping the zookeeper to clean the enclosure and feed the penguins their lunch. It was so much fun! Could we do that with the weeds?"

Speechless, the room stared at her.

"We could ask them to pay a small amount to see inside the greenhouses and do some weeding before we open for the day. Maybe they could even plant a flower or something so they feel like they can come and visit it in the future. We could call it the gardener experience or something and give them a certificate. I don't know if it would work, but that's my idea."

"By gum! Even the Great Horticulturalist couldn't think of that." Algernon slapped his knee. "Well done Mildred!" He grinned at her in excitement.

Dimity nodded in agreement. "I'm behind with planting my quota of saplings this year, so asking visitors to plant a tree as well isn't a half bad idea."

Ada clapped her hands in celebration. "Mildred, I am so pleased to have you on board. I knew we needed some fresh thinking on the team." She addressed the room. "Of course, there are logistics to be worked out, we will need at least one qualified gardener to relinquish their duties in order to instruct the guests. We will also need to set a price and advertise it. Is everyone in agreement to try Mildred's idea?"

Aghast, Hecate stood from her seat. "Ada, you clearly are not thinking straight! We already have one unqualified gardener muddying the craft," she shot a scornful look at Mildred. "To allow this to go ahead would be to go against the Code itself."

Ada looked sadly at her head gardener. "Hecate, it seems we are out of options. Either we try Mildred's idea, or we begin the road to closing down."

Hecate began to argue back, but was cut off by Pippa, who until this point had remained silently by the teapot. She brought a cup of tea to Hecate and placed it into her hands. "Hecate, we can always find ways around the Code. The main thing is that we can get back to doing more than just weeding all day. If you want to return to some semblance of the norm, we must try Mildred's idea." Hecate huffed in defeat.

Pippa sent a cheery wink in Mildred's direction and Mildred gratefully smiled back.

"That's settled then," Ada addressed the room. "We will trial Mildred's idea tomorrow morning. Hecate, as the expert on the Gardeners' Code and as head gardener, I imagine you would like to have some input into how it will run. Perhaps you and Mildred can design the gardening experience together?"

Hecate's eyes widened in horror at the thought of spending any more time with Mildred. "That will not be necessary," she told Ada. "Mildred has promised to help Algernon with the pond this afternoon. Dimity and I will take care of the gardening experience."

"But it was my idea-" Mildred attempted to argue.

"Mildred Hubble, as I am sure you are aware the Gardeners' Code states that a gardener will always provide assistance to another gardener when promised." Hecate said.

Mildred reddened, there was so much of the code she was unaware of, she didn't dare argue back and expose her ignorance. Instead she bowed her head in defeat.

Despite having seen the pond many times on her trips to Cackle's over the years, Mildred found herself enraptured again by its mirror-like beauty. More like a lake than a pond, the glassy surface depicted a replica of the gardens she unconditionally loved, and a gentle summer breeze distorted the image ever so slightly so it appeared to be more like a watercolour painting than a perfect reflection. Crowds of pondweed waved their leafy arms below the surface as if to say hello and beckon her closer. Mildred found herself being drawn to the edge of the pond. She looked down. Small unidentifiable fish darted through the dark depths, sending clouds of sediment spiralling into the water above. When they noticed their audience above the surface, the fish sought shelter under one of the many large stones that adorned the bed of the pond. Gently, Mildred placed her fingers in the cool water, smiling at the ripples that radiated out from her hand.

"There is an old legend that says that the Cackle's family once drew their inspiration from this pond." Algernon said from behind Mildred.

She jumped. The pond was so mesmerisingly beautiful, for a moment it had seemed like it was just Mildred and the incomprehensible perfection of the water. She hurriedly dried her hand on her overalls.

"I personally think that there is a lot of truth in that legend, young tadpole. Although it appears to me that inspiration comes to you regardless of the help of an ancient pond. That was quite the idea you had earlier," he said.

Mildred grinned, she rather liked the amphibian nickname Algernon had given her. "I like the sound of that legend," she said. "Do you spend a lot of time working by the pond?"

A whimsical chuckle escaped Algernon's mouth. "My dear girl, this pond is my life's work." He gazed wistfully at a collection of giant floating lily-pads. "I do sometimes wish I could experience it as the pond-life does, just to see it from a different perspective for once. I often dream of living out my retired years as a frog."

Mildred laughed. If she thought about it really hard, she supposed she could imagine life as a frog, but she decided she would miss her mum and her friends too much. She admired the pond again, and noticed that the only weeds in sight were the purposefully placed fronds she had seen earlier, submerged below the surface. "How have you managed to keep it so free from weeds?" She asked earnestly.

Algernon thought for a moment. "That is a very good question, young tadpole. A question I'm afraid I do not know the answer to. Beside the usual maintenance, the pond has been undemanding this summer. Come to think of it, it is very peculiar how the weeds have been localised to the flowerbeds." He scratched his head.

"Perhaps it's the loose soil, would that make it easier for weeds to take root?" Mildred offered.

"Perhaps."

"There aren't any weeds in the grass either," Mildred observed. "Do you think someone is doing this on purpose?" She shook her head at the idea of someone trying to spoil the gardens that brought her so much solace.

"Let's keep this between the two of us, just in case. It seems like the weeds could be more deliberate than we first imagined." Algernon looked at Mildred with grave seriousness on his weatherbeaten face. "If Cackle's is being sabotaged, we don't want the saboteur to know we are on to them until we can prove it. It looks like we have an investigation on our hands young tadpole."

Mildred nodded in subdued shock. "Do you really think someone could be sabotaging Cackle's? Who would do that?"

"Who indeed." Algernon mused.