Then I heard Father Stocks begin to pray: "Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice…"At first the priest's voice was clearly audible and punctuated by groans and cries of pain, but gradually it became a faint murmur before fading away altogether.There was a minute or so of silence, but then I heard scratching sounds outside my bedroom door. Again I tried to sit up. It was useless, but by making a great effort I found that I could move my head a little, and I turned it slightly to the right, so that I could look toward the door.My eyes were quickly adjusting to the darkness, and I could see enough to tell me that the door was very slightly ajar, hardly more than a crack. But as I watched, in fear and dismay, it slowly began to gape wider, making my heart hammer in my chest. Wider and wider ityawned, the hinges creaking as it slowly opened to its full extent. I gazed toward the deeper darkness beyond it, terrified but expectant. At any moment I would see Tibb enter the room.I could see nothing at all, but I could hear him-claws scratching and scrabbling, biting into wood. Then I realized that the sound was above, not below me. I looked upward just in time to see a dark shape moving across the ceiling like a spider, to halt directly above my bed. Unable to move anything but my head, I started to take deep breaths, trying to slow my heartbeat.

To be afraid made the dark stronger. I had to get my fear under control.I could see the outline of the four limbs and the body, but the head seemed far closer. I've always been able to see well in the dark, and my eyes were continuing to adjust until I could finally make some sense of what threatened from above.Tibb had crawled across the wooden panels of the ceiling so that his hairy back and limbs were facing a-way from me. But his head was hanging down backwardtoward the bed, supported by a long, muscular neck, so that his eyes were below his mouth; and those eyes were glowing slightly in the dark and staring directly toward my own; the mouth was wide open, revealing the sharp needlelike teeth within.Something dripped onto my forehead then. Something slightly sticky and warm. It seemed to fall from the creature's open mouth. Twice more drops fell -one onto the pillow beside my head, the next onto my shirtfront. Then Tibb spoke, his voice rasping harshly in the darkness."I see your future clearly. Your life will be sad. Your master willbe dead and you will be alone. It would be better if you had never been born."I didn't reply, but a calm was settling upon me, my fear receding fast."I see a girl, soon to be a woman, "Tibb continued. "The girl who will share your life. She will love you, she will betray you, and finally she will die for you. And it will all have been for nothing.All for nothing in the end. Your mother wad cruel. What motherwould bring a child into the world for such a hopeless future?What mother would ask you to do what cannot be done? She sings a goat song and places you at its center. Remember my wordswhen you look into the mouth of death."

"Don't speak about Mam like that!" I demanded angrily. "You know nothing about her!" But I was baffled by his reference to a goat song. What was that?Tibb's response was a snort of laughter, and another bead of moisture fell from his mouth to soil my shirt front."I know nothing? How wrong you are. I know more than you. Much, much more than you. More now than you will everknow…"Then you'll know what's in the trunks," I said softly.Tibb gave a low growl of anger."You can't see that, can you?" I taunted. "You can't see everything."You will give us the keys soon, then we will see. Then we willknow!"I'll tell you now," I said. "There's no need to wait for the keys -"Tell me! Tell me!" Tibb demanded.

Suddenly I wasn't afraid of him anymore. I'd no idea at all what I was going to say, but when I spoke, the words came out of my mouth as if uttered by somebody else."In the trunks is your death," I said quietly. "In the trunks is the destruction of the Pendle covens."Tibb gave a great roar of anger and bafflement, and for a moment I thought he was about to hurl himself down onto me. But instead I heard the sound of claws cutting into the wooden ceiling panels, and a dark shape moved above me toward the door. Moments later I was alone.I wanted to get up and go into the next room to see if I could help Father Stocks, but I lacked the strength to do so. I struggled for long hours through the darkness, but was too weak and exhausted to clamber from the bed, and I lay there in thrall to Wurmalde's power.Only when the first dawn light illuminated the window did the enchantment fall from my limbs. I managed to sit up and looked down at the pillow. There was a bloodstainon it, two more on the front of my shirt. The blood had dripped from Tibb's open mouth.

He must have been feeding…Remembering the groans, cries, and prayers from the next bedroom, I rushed out into the corridor. The priest's bedroom door was ajar. I opened it farther and stepped inside cautiously. The heavy curtains were still closed, the candle had long since burned out, and the room was in near darkness. I could see the shape of Father Stocks lying on the bed, but I couldn't hear him breathing."Father Stocks," I called, and received a faint answering groan."Is that you, Tom?" he said weakly. "Are you all right?"Yes, Father. What about you?"Open the curtains and let in some light…"So I 'went to the window and drew back the curtains as he'd asked. The weather had certainly changed for the worse, and the sky was heaped with dark clouds. When I turned back to face Father Stocks, I recoiled in horror. The pillow and top sheet were soaked in blood. I went tothe side of the bed and looked down at him, full of pity for his plight.

"Help me, Tom. Help me sit up…"He gripped my right arm, and I pulled him forward into a sitting position. He groaned in pain. There were beads of sweat on his brow, and he looked very pale. With my left hand I lifted the pillows and positioned them behind his back to offer support."Thank you, Tom. Thank you. You're a good lad," he said, trying to smile. There was a tremor in his voice, and his breathing was fast and shallow. "Did you see that foul thing? Did it visit you in the night?" he asked.I nodded. "It came into my room but never touched me. It just talked, that's all."God be praised for that," said the priest. "It talked to me, too, and what a tale it told. You were right about Mistress Wurmalde-I've underestimated her. She cares little for her position in this house now. She's the power behind the Pendle clans, the one who's trying to unite them. Within a few days this whole district will belong tothe Devil himself. Her days of pretending are over, it seems. She's already managed to unite the Malkins and the Deanes and believes she can persuade the Mouldheels to join them. Then, at Lammas, the three covens will combine to summon the Fiend and bring a new age of darkness to this world."When that foul creature finished talking, it dropped down from the ceiling onto my chest.

I tried to throw it off, but it fed ravenously and within moments I became as weak as a kitten. I prayed. Prayed harder than I've ever done before. I'd like to think that God answered, but in truth I think it only left me when it had drunk its fill." "You need a doctor, Father. We need to get you help -" "No, Tom. No. It's not a doctor I need. Left alone to rest, my strength would return, but I won't get the chance. Once it's dark, that beast will return to feed from me again, and this time I fear I shall die. Oh, Tom!" he said, clutching at my arm, his eyes wide with fear, his whole body trembling. "I'm afraid to die like this, alone in the darkness. I felt as if I was at the bottom of a greatpit, with Satan himself pressing me down and stifling my cries so that even God couldn't hear my prayers. I'm too weak to move, but you've got to get away, Tom. I need John Gregory now. Bring John here. He'll know what to do. He's the only one who can help me now…"Don't worry, Father," I told him. "Try to rest. You'll be safe during the daylight hours. I'll get away just as soon as I can, and I'll be back with my master long before dark."