The Spook frowned and held out his hand. ‘Give me the letter,’ he demanded.

I took it out of my pocket and passed it to him. He took a long time reading it but at last he handed it back. He didn’t speak for quite a while.

‘Your mother is a shrewd and intelligent woman,’ the Spook said at last. ‘That accounts for much of what’s written there. She’d worked out exactly what I was going to do. She’d more than enough knowledge to do that. It’s not prophecy. Life’s bad enough as it is without believing in that. You chose to go down the steps. But you had another choice. You could have walked away and then everything would have been different.’

‘But once I’d chosen, she was right. Three of us faced the Bane and only two survived. I was dead. You carried me back to the surface. How can we explain that?’

The Spook didn’t reply and the silence between us grew longer and longer. After a while I lay down and fell into a dreamless sleep. I didn’t mention the curse. I knew it was something he wouldn’t want to talk about.

CHAPTER 22

A Bargain’s A Bargain It was almost midnight and a horned moon was rising above the trees. Rather than approaching his house by the most direct route the Spook brought us towards it from the east. I thought of the eastern garden ahead and the pit that lay in wait for Alice. The pit that I’d dug.

Surely he wasn’t going to put her in the pit now? Not after all she’d done to help put things right? She’d allowed him to blindfold her and seal her ears with wax. And then she’d sat there for hours in silence and darkness without complaining even once.

But then I saw the stream ahead and was filled with new hope. It was narrow but fast-flowing, the water sparkling silver in the moonlight, and there was a single stepping stone at its centre.

He was going to test Alice.

‘Right, girl,’ he said, his expression stern. ‘You lead the way. Over you go!’

When I looked at Alice’s face my heart sank. She looked terrified and I remembered how I’d had to carry her across the river near the Silver Gate. The Bane was dead now, its power over Alice broken, but was the damage already done beyond all hope of repair? Had Alice moved too close to the dark? Could she never be free? Never be able to cross running water? Was she a fully-fledged malevolent witch?

Alice hesitated at the water’s edge and began to tremble. Twice she lifted her foot to make the simple step to the flat stone at the centre of the stream. Twice she put it down again. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead and began to roll down towards her nose and eyes.

‘Go on, Alice, you can do it!’ I called, trying to encourage her. For my trouble I got a withering stare from the Spook.

With a sudden, terrible effort Alice stepped onto the stone and swung her left leg forward almost immediately to carry herself over to the far bank. Once there, she hurriedly sat down and buried her face in her hands.

The Spook made a clicking noise with his tongue, crossed the stream and strode quickly up the hill towards the trees on the edge of the garden. I waited behind while Alice got to her feet, then together we walked up to where the Spook was waiting, his arms folded.

When we reached him, the Spook suddenly stepped forward and seized Alice. Gripping her by the legs, he threw her back over his shoulder. She began to wail and struggle, but without another word he clutched her more firmly, then turned and strode into the garden.

I followed behind desperately. He was heading deep into the eastern garden, moving directly towards the graves where the witches were kept, towards the empty pit. It didn’t seem fair! Alice had passed the test, hadn’t she?

‘Help me, Tom! Help me, please!’ Alice cried.

‘Can’t she have one more chance?’ I pleaded. ‘Just one more chance? She crossed. She’s not a witch.’

‘She just about got away with it this time,’ snarled the Spook over his shoulder. ‘But there’s badness inside her, just waiting its chance.’

‘How can you say that? After all she’s done-’

‘This is the safest way. It’s the best thing for everyone!’

I knew then that it was time for what my dad calls ‘a few home truths’. I had to tell him what I knew about Meg, even though he might hate me for it and not want me as his apprentice any more. But perhaps a reminder of his past might make him change his mind. The thought of Alice going into the pit was unbearable, and the fact that I’d been made to dig it made it a hundred times worse.

The Spook reached the pit and halted at its very edge. As he moved to lower Alice into the darkness, I shouted out, Tou didn’t do it to Meg!’

He turned towards me with a look of utter astonishment on his face.

‘You didn’t put Meg in the pit, did you?’ I cried out. ‘And she was a witch! You didn’t do it because you cared too much about her! So please don’t do it to Alice! It isn’t right!’

The Spook’s expression of astonishment changed to one of fury and he stood there, tottering on the edge of the pit; for a moment I didn’t know whether he was going to throw Alice down or fall into it himself. He stood there for what seemed like a very long time, but then, to my relief, his fury seemed to give way to something else and he turned and walked away, still carrying Alice.

He walked beyond the new, empty pit, passed the one where Bony Lizzie was imprisoned, strode away from the graves where the two dead witches were buried and stepped onto the path of white stones that led towards the house.

Despite his recent illness, all that he’d been through, and the weight of Alice over his shoulder, the Spook was walking so fast that I was struggling to keep up. He pulled the key from the left pocket of his breeches, opened the back door of the house and was inside before my foot even touched the step.

He walked straight into the kitchen and halted close to the fireplace, where flames were flickering sparks up the chimney. The kitchen was warm, the candles lit, with cutlery and plates set for two on the table.

Slowly the Spook eased Alice from his shoulder and set her down. The moment her pointy shoes touched the flags the fire died right down, the candle flickered and almost went out, and the air grew distinctly chilly.

The next moment there was a growl of anger that rattled the crockery and vibrated right through the floor. It was the Spook’s pet boggart. Had Alice walked into the garden, even with the Spook close by, she would have been torn to pieces. But because the Spook had been carrying her it wasn’t until her feet touched the ground that the boggart became aware of Alice’s presence. And now it wasn’t best pleased.

The Spook placed his left hand on top of Alice’s head. Next, with his left foot he stamped hard three times against the flags.

The air grew very still and the Spook called out in a loud voice, ‘Hear me now! Listen well to what I say!’

There was no answer but the fire recovered a little and the air didn’t seem quite so cold.

‘While this child is in my house, harm not a hair of her head!’ ordered the Spook. ‘But watch everything that she does and ensure that she does all that I command.’

With that, he stamped three more times against the flags. In answer, the fire flared up in the grate and the kitchen suddenly seemed warm and welcoming.

‘And now prepare supper for three!’ the Spook commanded. Then he beckoned and we followed him out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He paused outside the locked door of the library.

‘While you’re here, girl, you’ll earn your keep,’ the Spook growled. ‘There are books in there that can’t be replaced. You’ll never be allowed inside but I’ll give you one book at a time and you can make a copy of it. Is that understood?’

Alice nodded.

‘Your second job will be to tell my lad everything that Bony Lizzie taught you. And I mean everything. He’ll write it all down. A lot of it’ll be nonsense, of course, but that doesn’t matter because it’ll still add to our store of knowledge. Are you prepared to do that?’