"I opened the trunks. I kept my word, and I hope you like what you see," I said quietly, trying to control my anger. How could she accuse me of betraying her when I'd been forced to do her bidding? I began to tremble, remembering how she'd held the knife against Mary's throat, and suddenly my words came out in a rush of anger."All three trunks belong to me! That's the truth, and you know it. And now you've lost the trunks and lost control of this tower, too. You didn't rule Pendle for long," I jibed, hearing my own voice ugly with mockery. Instantly I regretted having rubbed salt into the wound. There was no need to speak like that. Dad wouldn't have liked it.The lamia took a step toward Mab and she took two hurried steps backward. "You'll be sorry for this," she threatened, her voice low but filled with venom. "I actually cared about you, and now you've let me down! So you give me no choice! No choice at all. We will join up with the other clans and do what Wurmalde wants. She wants you dead. Wants to hurt your mam and thwart her plans. Wants to stop you from becoming a spook. And now I'm going to help her! See how you like it when Old Nick hunts you down! See how you feel when we send him after you!"The lamia advanced again, its movements slow and deliberate, and panic animated Mab's face. She gave a scream of terror and dropped both blade and lantern before scrambling down through the hatch after her sisters.Wasting no time, I walked forward, picked up the fallen blade, and used it to cut the string that bound the other long bundle before quickly unwrapping the sail- cloth to allow moonlight to fall upon the creature within.

Moments later, both lamias were fully alert. They looked at me searchingly, but I couldn't read the expression in their eyes. I was suddenly very nervous, my mouth becoming dry. What if they didn't know me? What if Mam was wrong?Could these really be my aunts? Mam's sisters? I remembered my aunt Martha, on Dad's side, a kindly old lady with red cheeks and a ready smile. She was dead now, but I recalled her with fondness. These creatures couldn't be more different! And yes, I had to admit it: This meant that Mam must be a lamia, too.What had happened? Could Mam's sisters have stayed feral while she slowly shape-shifted into the domestic form, benign and kind? She'd been human in shape when Dad first met her. He'd been a sailor, his ship calling at a port in Greece. When he'd found her bound with a silver chain, her hand had also been nailed to the rock. Who'd done that and why? Did it have something to do with Wurmalde? Afterward Mam'd taken Dad back with her to a house with a Availed garden. They'd lived there happily for a while, but some nights Mam's two sisters had come to visit.

Then I realized that my first guess was wrong. Dad had said they were tall, fierce-looking women. They'd seemed angry with him. He thought that was why Mam had insisted that they leave Greece and make their home in the County-to get away from her sisters.However, unknown to him, they must have been placed in those trunks when they were still domestic. Then they must have slowly shape-shifted back to the feral because they'd been deprived of human contact, dormant for years and years. It all seemed to point to that. I remembered something else that Mam had once said to me.None of us are either all good or all bad-we 're all somewhere in between -but there comes a moment in each life when we take an important step, either toward the light or toward the dark…maybe it's because of a special person we meet. Because of what your dad did for me, I stepped in the right direction, and that'swhy I'm here today. Had Mam perhaps not always been good? Had meeting Dad changed her? As my mind whirled with those thoughts, the two lamias turned away and headed for the open hatch, dropping through it in turn. I followed more slowly, first picking up the lantern that Mab had discarded. I climbed down into the wooden room that housed the device for lowering the drawbridge and looked through the second hatch into the vast living area below.

The air was full of screams, but they were coming from the storeroom into which the Mouldheels had fled; the Mouldheels were no doubt trying to escape by climbing through the other hatch into the first section of the tower below ground. I began to descend the spiral of steps toward the floor.By the time I reached ground level, the screams and shouts were distant, fading away by the second. But there was a trail of blood that led from one of the tables near the wall into the storeroom. I wondered which of the witches was the victim and walked toward the door slowly, reluctant to face what I might find there.However, I saw that the storeroom was already empty. I walked across and peered down through the hatch. It was dark, but in the distance I could see the bobbing lights of lanterns against the walls as the Mouldheels fled down the spiral steps, and the vast space echoed with faint screams. I lifted my own lantern and peered down. The trail of blood continued beyond the hatch. The eye of a lamia glittered, reflecting back the light. She was dragging something down the steps. It was a body. I couldn't see the face-just legs and bare feet slowly receding downward.The Mouldheels belonged to the dark, but I felt sorry for the dead victim below. And I didn't feel good about betraying Mab, even though I'd done it for the sake of the County. But what if she was right? What if she did escape the lamias and unite with the other clans to spite me? Had I just put myself, my family, and all the County in even greater danger?I closed the hatch and turned away, sickened. I would have locked it if I could, but Alice still had my special key. I trusted Mam. I knew that I'd nothing to fear from the lamias. They were family, and I had their blood in my veins. But I still didn't want them near me. I wasn't ready to face who I was just yet.

Chapter XVIII

James The Blacksmith

It was a long night. I tried to sleep, hoping to blot out for a while everything that had happened, but it was useless, and finally I went back up onto the battlements and waited for the sun to come up.It seemed to me that I was safe enough in the tower. The drawbridge was up, the breach in the wall had been repaired, and the two lamias would prevent either the Mouldheels or the Malkins from coming back through the tunnels and up into the tower. But I needed to know how Jack was.If only I could bring him and his family into the safety of the tower… and one of the potions in the first trunk might well be able to help him. I wanted to see the Spook, too, and tell him everything that had happened; but even more urgently I had to talk to Alice. She knew where I was, and if news reached her about what had happened, she might come back to the tower. She would be able to look through the potions and perhaps work out which one to use. It was dangerous out there and my courage was faint, but I knew that if Alice hadn't come to the tower the next day, then I would have to go and look for her.The sun came up and climbed into a sky that was clear, without even a hint of cloud. The morning wore on, but apart from the crows and the occasional distant glimpse of deer or rabbits, the clearing between the trees and the tower was empty of life. In a way, as the rhyme says, I was king of the castle. But it meant nothing. I was lonely and afraid and I didn't see how life would ever get back to normal.

Would Magistrate Nowell eventually come back and demand that I surrender? If I refused, would he bring the constable and lay siege to the tower again?By the afternoon my appetite had returned, and I went down into the living area once more. The fire was still smoldering, so I stoked up the embers and started to bake potatoes for my breakfast. I ate them straight from the fire, too hot to hold for more than a second at a time. I burned my mouth a little, but they were delicious and the pain was worth it. It made me realize how little I'd eaten since arriving in Pendle.I found my rowan staff in a corner and sat for a while holding it across my knee. Somehow it made me feel better. I thought of the silver chain that had been confiscated by Nowell. I wanted it back-J needed it for my work. But at least Mam's trunks were back in my possession. I still felt weary and afraid, but decided that, after nightfall, I'd have to set off and find Alice or the Spook. Under cover of darkness I'd have more chance of evading capture -either by witches or the constable and his men. I wouldn't be able to use the drawbridge; once I'd let it down and left the tower, there'd be nobody there to raise it again and any of the witches could easily get in. So I'd have to leave by the tunnel and risk an encounter with the wight. That decided, I pushed some more spuds into the fire for my supper and went up to the battlements to spy out the lay of the land.I waited and watched, gathering my courage as the sun sank toward the horizon. After about half an hour or so, I glimpsed a movement in the trees. Three people emerged from the wood and began to walk to the drawbridge.