Joseph Delaney - The Spook

Soon afterwards the stars disappeared and it began to rain heavily. It was a long, uncomfortable, cold night and I kept thinking about what would happen to me before dawn. The nearer it got the worse I felt.

About an hour before sunrise the rain eased to a light drizzle before fading away altogether. Once more I could see the stars, and by now they no longer seemed double. I was soaked and cold but my throat had stopped burning.

When a face appeared overhead looking down into the pit, my heart began to race because I thought it was Lizzie come to collect my bones. But to my relief it was Alice.

‘Lizzie’s sent me to see how you’re getting on,’ she called down softly. ‘Has Billy been yet?’

‘He’s been and gone,’ I told her angrily.

‘I never meant for this to happen, Tom. If only you hadn’t meddled, it would have been all right.’

‘Been all right?’ I said. ‘By now another child would be dead and the Spook too, if you’d had your way. And those cakes had the blood of a baby inside. Do you call that being all right? You come from a family of murderers and you’re a murderer yourself!’

‘Ain’t true. It ain’t true, that!’ Alice protested. ‘There was no baby. All I did was give you the cakes.’

‘Even if that were so,’ I insisted, ‘you knew what they were going to do afterwards. And you would’ve let it happen.’

‘I ain’t that strong, Tom. How could I stop it? How could I stop Lizzie?’

‘I’ve chosen what I want to do,’ I told her. ‘But what will you choose, Alice? Bone magic or blood magic? Which one? Which one will it be?’

‘Ain’t going to do either. I don’t want to be like them. I’ll run away. As soon as I get the chance, I’ll be off.’

‘If you mean that, then help me now. Help me to get out of the pit. We could run away together.’

‘It’s too dangerous now,’ Alice said. ‘I’ll run away later. Maybe weeks from now when they ain’t expecting it.’

‘You mean after I’m dead. When you’ve got more blood on your hands…’

Alice didn’t reply. I heard her begin to cry softly, but just when I thought she was on the verge of changing her mind and helping me, she walked away.

I sat there in the pit, dreading what was going to happen to me, remembering the hanging men and now knowing exactly how they must have felt before they died. I knew that I’d never go home. Never see my family again. I’d just about given up all hope when footsteps approached the pit. I stood up, terrified, but it was Alice again.

‘Oh, Tom, I’m sorry,’ she said. "They’re sharpening their knives…’

The worst moment of all was approaching and I knew that I only had one chance. The only hope I had was Alice.

‘If you’re really sorry, then you’ll help me,’ I said softly.

‘Ain’t nothing I can do,’ she cried. ‘Lizzie could turn on me. She don’t trust me. Thinks I’m soft.’

‘Go and fetch Mr Gregory,’ I said. ‘Bring him here.’

‘Too late for that, ain’t it,’ Alice sobbed, shaking her head. ‘Bones taken in daylight are no use to Lizzie. No use at all. The best time to take bones is just before the sun comes up. So they’ll be coming for you in a few minutes. That’s all the time you’ve got.’

‘Then get me a knife,’ I said.

‘No use, that,’ she said. ‘Too strong, they are. Can’t fight ‘em, can you?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘I want it to cut the rope. I’m going to run for it.’

Suddenly Alice was gone. Had she gone to fetch a knife or would she be too scared of Lizzie? I waited a few moments, but when she didn’t come back I became desperate. I struggled, trying to pull my wrists apart, trying to snap the rope, but it was no use.

When a face peered down at me, my heart jumped with fear, but it was Alice holding something out over the pit. She dropped it, and as it fell, metal gleamed in the moonlight.

Alice hadn’t let me down. It was a knife. If I could just cut the rope I’d be free…

At first, even with my hands tied behind my back, I never had any doubt in my mind that I could do it. The only danger was that I might cut myself a bit, but what did that matter compared to what they’d do to me before the sun came up? It didn’t take me long to get a grip on the knife. Positioning it against the rope was more difficult and it was very hard to move it. When I dropped it for the second time, I began to panic. There couldn’t be more than a minute or so before they came for me.

‘You’ll have to do it for me,’ I called up to Alice. ‘Come on, jump down into the pit.’

I didn’t think she’d really do it, but to my surprise she did. She didn’t jump but lowered herself down feet first, facing the side of the pit and hanging onto the edge with her arms. When her body was fully extended, she dropped the final two feet or so.

It didn’t take her long to cut the rope. My hands were free and all we had to do was get out of the pit.

‘Let me stand on your shoulders,’ I said. "Then I’ll pull you up.’

Alice didn’t argue, and at the second attempt I managed to balance on her shoulders and drag myself up onto the wet grass. Then came the really hard part – pulling Alice out of the pit.

I reached down with my left hand. She gripped it hard with her own and placed her right hand on my wrist for extra support. Then I tried to pull her up.

My first problem was the wet, slippery grass and I found it hard to keep myself from being dragged over the edge. Then I realized that I didn’t have the strength to do it. I’d made a big mistake. Just because she was a girl, that didn’t necessarily make her weaker than me. Too late I remembered the way she’d pulled the rope to make the Spook’s bell dance. She’d done it almost effortlessly. I should have let her stand on my shoulders. I should have let her get out of the pit first. Alice would have pulled me up without any trouble.

It was then that I heard the sound of voices. Bony Lizzie and Tusk were coming through the trees towards us.

Below me I saw Alice ’s feet scrabbling against the side of the pit, trying to get a hold. Desperation gave me extra strength. I gave a sudden heave and she came up over the edge and collapsed beside me.

We got away just in time, running hard with the sound of other feet running behind us. They were quite a long way back at first, but very gradually they began to get closer and closer.

I don’t know how long we ran for. It felt like a lifetime. I ran until my legs felt like lead and the breath was burning in my throat. We were heading back towards Chipenden – I could tell that from the occasional glimpses I got of the fells through the trees. We were running towards the dawn. The sky was greying now and growing lighter by the minute. Then, just as I felt I couldn’t take another step, the tips of the fells were glowing a pale orange. It was sunlight and I remember thinking that even if we were caught now, at least it was daylight and so my bones would be of no use to Lizzie.

As we came out of the trees onto a grassy slope and began to run up it, my legs finally began to fail. They were turning to jelly and Alice was starting to pull away from me. She glanced back at me, her face terrified. I could still hear them crashing through the trees behind us.

Then I came to a complete and sudden halt. I stopped because I wanted to stop. I stopped because there was no need to run any further.

There, standing at the summit of the slope ahead, was a tall figure dressed in black carrying a long staff. It was the Spook all right but somehow he looked different. His hood was thrown back and his hair, lit by the rays of the rising sun, seemed to be streaming back from his head like orange tongues of flame.