Joseph Delaney - The Spook's Mistake

The next moment we rolled into the water. I just had time to close my mouth and hold my breath and then my head went under. I struggled even harder and we spun round again and my face emerged for a second or so, allowing me to take one more breath. Then the water closed over me again and I felt myself being drawn down. My new swimming skills were useless. The water witch had me in her grip and it was too strong. Down and down I sank, into the depths. I fought to hold my breath but my lungs were bursting and there was a darkness over my eyes.

How long I fought to be free I don't know but my struggles grew weaker and at last the water rushed into my mouth and up my nose and I began to drown. The final thing I remember is a feeling of resignation. I'd done my best but it was all over now and I was finally dying. Then it grew dark and I stopped struggling.

But my battle in this world wasn't over. I awoke to find myself on the hillside again, coughing and choking while somebody pressed and pounded my back. I thought I was being sick but it was water, not vomit, that was gushing from my nose and mouth.

It seemed to go on for a long time, until gradually the pounding stopped and I found myself breathing without choking, although my heart was beating so fast I thought it might burst. Then someone rolled me onto my back and I was looking up into the face of Grimalkin.

'You'll live, child,' she said, pulling me up into a sitting position. 'But it was a close thing. I only just reached you before the witch dragged you into the really deep water.'

I realized that I owed my life to a malevolent witch. Whatever the Spook thought, we were on the same side. So I thanked her. It was what my dad would have expected.

Then I saw that the line of dead bodies lying on the edge of the marsh included the Fiend's daughter. She was still bound by my silver chain.

'I'm sorry I wasn't more help,' I said. I just got the words out before a coughing fit took me.

Grimalkin waited patiently until it finished before speaking again. 'You did enough, child. When you cast your chain at Morwena, you ensured our victory. So now come and reclaim it. I can't touch silver.'

Grimalkin helped me to my feet. I felt weak and began to shiver violently. My clothes were saturated, my body chilled to the bone. As I walked towards the line of supine bodies, I saw what Grimalkin had done and was almost sick. She had cut the heart from each dead witch and placed it near the head. She saw the appalled look on my face and rested her hand on my shoulder.

'It had to be done, child, to ensure that none of them is able to return. Hasn't your master taught you that?'

I nodded. Strong witches such as these could be reborn again or might be powerful enough to walk the earth while dead and do untold harm. To prevent this you had to cut out the heart; it then had to be eaten.

Grimalkin lifted the body of the Fiend's daughter by the hair while I removed my chain. It was covered in blood. There was a faint noise in the distance and Grimalkin looked up. It was repeated — the bark of a hunting dog. Claw was on her way. If the Fiend had kept his word, the normal progress of time would now be restored to the mill.

'I no longer have the stomach for such things, so make sure the dog eats the hearts — all of them,' Grimalkin said. 'I'll go now before the others come. But one last thing — how old are you, child?'

'Fourteen. I'll be fifteen next August. On the third of that month.'

Grimalkin smiled. 'Life is hard in Pendle and consequently children must grow up quickly. On the Walpurgis Night sabbath following his fourteenth birthday, the boy child of a witch clan is considered to have become a man. Go to Pendle soon after that feast and seek me out. I guarantee your safety and I will give you a gift. It will be well worth having.'

It was a strange thing for her to say. Walpurgis Night was the last day of April. I couldn't imagine myself visiting Pendle to receive a gift from Grimalkin. I knew what the Spook would think of that!

With that, the witch turned swiftly on her heel, ran back up the hill, leaped over the low wall and was lost to view.

Within five minutes Claw arrived. I watched as she began to devour the hearts of the witches. She was ravenous, and by the time the Spook, Arkwright and Alice arrived she'd almost finished the last one.

I remember Alice offering to wash the blood from my silver chain. Then the world grew suddenly dark and the Spook was helping me to my feet. Shivering violently, I was taken back to the mill and put to bed. Whether from swallowing stagnant marsh water or from the scratches on my throat, probably caused by the water witch's talons, I quickly developed a dangerous fever.

Ilearned afterwards that Alice tried to help with one of her potions but that the Spook forbade it. Instead, the local doctor visited the house again and gave me medicines that made me vomit until I thought my stomach would tear. It was almost five days before I was able to leave my sick bed. Had I known at the time that Alice wasn't being allowed to treat me, I would have protested.

The Spook recognized her skills with potions, but it was only after I'd recovered that I found out why he'd kept her away from my bedside. It was a blow to my heart. The worst possible news.

As soon as I was on my feet, we had a long discussion in the upstairs sitting room. The coffins of Bill Arkwright's mam and dad were no longer there — they'd been buried on the edge of a local churchyard where he could visit them. The Fiend had kept his word and their spirits had gone to the light. Now that the unquiet dead no longer haunted the mill, it had a new atmosphere of tranquillity.

Arkwright was very grateful for what I'd done. He began the discussion by thanking me to the point where it became embarrassing. Next, it was my turn to speak but I had little to tell the gathering, other than to describe how the fight on the marsh had unfolded. They knew the rest already. And the Spook knew too much. Far too much.

His face stern and tinged with anger, he explained that, although their bodies had been frozen in time, their minds had been free and they had somehow been able to see what I saw and listen to the discussion between the Fiend and me. They knew the task I'd been set and the bargain I'd made both for their lives and the release of Arkwright's parents. That was terrible enough as they feared the outcome on the marsh and were aware of the imminence of their own deaths. But, cheated of that, the Fiend had later maliciously told them other things — facts designed to drive a wedge between the Spook and me and, even worse, create a gulf between us and Alice that could never be crossed.

'I was already saddened and worried by the fact that you used the mirror to talk to the girl. It showed me the bad influence she's had on you. Far worse than I'd expected. ' lamented the Spook.

I opened my mouth to protest but he gestured angrily for silence. 'But now there's more. That sly and deceitful girl has been in contact with Grimalkin for nearly a month.'

I looked across at Alice. Tears were streaming down her face. I suspected that the Spook had already told her what was going to happen as a consequence.

'And don't try to tell me that good came from it,' the Spook continued. 'I know that Grimalkin saved your life — saved all our lives — by fighting alongside you on the marsh, but she's evil, lad. She belongs to the dark and we can't compromise, otherwise we'll end up no better ourselves and we might as well be dead as suffer that. Alice belongs in a pit, and as soon as we get back to Chipenden, that's where she'll go!'

'Alice doesn't deserve that!' I protested. 'Think of all the times she's helped us in the past — she saved your life when you were seriously hurt by that boggart near Anglezarke. You would have died but for Alice.'