The Spook's Blood (Wardstone Chronicles) (30 page)

‘Here’s another book,’ said, reaching into my bag again, feeling a little nervous. I wasn’t sure how the Spook would react. ‘Alice was going to write an account of the two years she spent being trained by Bony Lizzie; instead she wrote this, thinking it might be more useful.’

The Spook accepted it and read the title from the spine: ‘
The Secrets of the Pendle Covens
.’ Then he opened it at the first page and began to read Alice’s neat writing.

My master closed the book very suddenly and looked at me hard. ‘Do you think this book belongs on the shelves of this library?’ he demanded.

‘It’s about the magic used by the witches, and about their strengths and weaknesses. It should help us a lot!’ I insisted.

‘Well, lad, it’s your decision,’ said the Spook, ‘because the truth is, this is your library. It’ll be yours until you hand it on to the next spook. In the meantime, you’ll decide what goes on these shelves. My knees have gone and I’ve lost my wind,’ he continued, shaking his head sadly. ‘Although you’ve still a way to go before you complete your time, but to all intents and purposes, from this moment on you are the Chipenden Spook. Start to think like one! I’ll still be around to offer advice, but from now the burden of the job must rest on your shoulders. What do you say?’

‘I’ll do my best,’ I said.

‘Aye, lad, you’ll do your best. That’s all any of us can do.’

Once again, I’ve written most of this from memory, just using my notebook when necessary.

A letter arrived from my eldest brother, Jack, yesterday. He said that James was missing but that they hadn’t given up hope. Jack was confident that he would return any day. I don’t know what to write back. Is it better to allow him to live in hope for a while? If I tell him what I know, Jack will somehow blame me anyway. He thinks that my job as an apprentice spook has brought nothing but trouble to my family. He is right. I believe James is dead, slain by the Fiend’s servants; but for the fact that he is my brother, he would still be alive.

The routine of spook’s business goes on, but when the bell rings at the withy trees,
I
am now the one who deals with any problem. Ghosts, boggarts and the occasional witch I deal with alone. My master spends a lot of time sitting in the garden. He looks older and the whole of his beard is now white. He reminds me of the old men I saw as a boy – the ones who used to sit around the market square in Topley village. They seemed to have withdrawn from life and were waiting for death, just content to observe and remember. I think John Gregory is also waiting to die, and that saddens me. It is one more burden I have to carry.

Judd Brinscall has taken the three dogs with him and gone north of Caster to set himself up in the watermill. He has taken on the territory that Bill Arkwright once covered and is now
busy
ridding the area of an infestation of water witches. I’ve done my best to forgive him for his betrayal of the Spook, but I still can’t quite get it out of my head. It will take time.

As for Grimalkin, she is on the run again with the Fiend’s head, still pursued by his servants. I offered to lend her the dagger: she had once refused the Destiny Blade, but now she accepted Bone Cutter. She will give it back when Alice returns from the dark with the third weapon so that all three sacred objects are finally in my possession.

Our fight against the dark continues – but I miss Alice. And time is running out. It is now early August, and I’ve just turned sixteen. I am in the fourth year of my apprenticeship to the Spook. It is less than three months till Halloween, when we have one chance to complete the ritual and destroy the Fiend for ever. Each morning I awake full of hope, thinking that this will be the day when Alice returns from her quest in the dark. As the hours pass, my mood slowly changes. Hope gradually gives way to despair. By dusk I am choked with grief, convinced that I will never see her again.

Even if she succeeds, it is only then that the horror truly begins. Mam’s letter not only explained how I must sacrifice Alice; it revealed other aspects of the ritual. One requires the use of a living skelt. I have a strong sense of foreboding about the creature – images and references to it keep cropping up. And it bothers me that its head decorates the hilts of the sword and dagger.

I think about the task that faces us. If we fail, the Fiend will eventually win and a new age of darkness will begin.

Knowing nothing of the ritual and what it involves, my master is chiefly concerned with the whereabouts of the
Doomdryte
, the evil grimoire that we saw in Mistress Fresque’s library. He is right to be worried. In the hands of our enemies, that book could be very dangerous indeed.

Despite all that’s happened, I’m still a spook’s apprentice – though I must start to think and behave like the Chipenden Spook. I must anticipate the time when John Gregory will no longer be here – even to offer me advice.

Thomas J. Ward

About the Author

Joseph Delaney
is a retired English teacher living in Lancashire. He has three children and eight grandchildren, and often speaks at conference, library and bookshop events. His home is in the middle of Boggart territory and his village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.

Most of the places in the Spook’s books are based on real places in Lancashire, and the inspiration behind the stories often comes from local ghost stories and legends.

You can visit the Wardstone Chronicles website at
www.spooksbooks.com
where you can find Joseph’s blog and more information on the books.

Also by Joseph Delaney