Joseph Delaney - The Spook's Mistake

John Gregory's star is starting to fade. You two are the future and hope of the County. He needs you both by his side.

How could Mam have been so wrong? Or perhaps she wasn't wrong at all. One of the Fiend's names was the 'Father of Lies'. So most likely he was lying now!

'You're lying!' I shouted at last, all my fear of him fleeing, to be replaced by outrage and anger.

The Fiend shook his head slowly. 'Even the Pendle clans don't know it, but it's the truth nonetheless. Alice's real mother is bound in a pit in John Gregory's garden at Chipenden. I speak of Bony Lizzie. When her child was born, it was immediately given into the safekeeping of a childless couple, the father a Deane, the mother a Malkin. But when Alice was older and ripe for training in the dark arts, their usefulness was over. On the night they died, Lizzie came to claim her daughter. That training would have continued but for the intervention of you and your master.'

Bony Lizzie — Alice's mother! Could it be possible? I remembered the first time I'd seen Lizzie. She was supposed to be Alice's aunt and I'd immediately noted the strong family resemblance. They had the same features, very dark hair and brown eyes, and although older, Lizzie had been as pretty as Alice. But she was quite different in many other ways. Her mouth twisted and sneered as she talked and she hardly ever looked you in the eye.

'It's not true. It can't be—'

'Oh, but it is, Tom. Your master's instincts have proved correct as usual. He's always doubted Alice, and this time, but for your feelings and the intervention of Arkwright, would have bound her in a pit next to her mother. But nothing I do is without careful thought and calculation. That is why I agreed to your request to free Amelia's soul. How grateful William Arkwright was! How useful he proved. How eloquent! And now Alice is free at last, beyond the influence and watchful eye of John Gregory, able to return to Pendle, where she will eventually assume her rightful place as leader and unite the clans once and for all.'

For a long time I didn't speak and a feeling of nausea came upon me, the sense of falling intensifying. But then a thought suddenly came into my head to lift my spirits. 'If she's your daughter,' I said, 'then how is it that she's fought so hard against the dark? How is it that she struggled against the witch clans in Pendle, risking her life to stop them bringing you through the portal into this world?'

'That's easy, Tom. She did it all for you. You were all that mattered to her so she became what you wanted and put aside most of her training in witchcraft. Of course, she can never really let it go. It's in her blood, isn't it? Families make you what you are. They give you flesh and bone, then mould your soul into their beliefs. Surely you've been told that before? But things are different now. Her hopes are over. You see, until the night before John Gregory sent her away, Alice didn't know who she really was. We kept it from her until the moment was right.

'That night she tried to contact Grimalkin. Tried to thank her for what she'd done in saving you. She used a pool of water at midnight. But mine was the face that stared back at her. And then I appeared right beside her and named her as my daughter. She didn't take it well, to say the least. Terror, despair, then resignation — that was the sequence of responses. I've seen it all before. Being who she is, Alice now has no hope of continuing as your friend. Her life at Chipenden is over and she knows it. She can no longer be at your side. That is, unless I choose to intervene and make it possible. Everything changes eventually, but sometimes things move in a spiral and we may return to the same point but on a different level.'

I looked at him and locked my gaze with his. Then I answered, the words coming without thought. 'The same point but a different level? For you that could only be downwards. Down towards the dark.'

'Would that be so bad? I am the lord of this world. It belongs to me. You could work alongside me to make it better for everyone. And Alice could be with us. The three of us together.'

'No,' I said, struggling to my feet and turning towards the steps. 'I serve the light.'

'Stay!' he commanded, his voice full of authority and anger. 'We haven't finished yet!'

But although my legs felt as heavy as lead and the sense of falling made it hard to keep my balance, I managed to take one step and then another. As I began to climb, I felt unseen forces tugging me down but I continued to fight my way upwards. When my eyes were able to see beyond the edge of the barge, I was terrified. For rather than the canal bank, beyond the barge there was nothing. I was gazing into absolute blackness; into nothingness. But I took another step, and then another, until the world as I knew it suddenly shimmered into view and I jumped down onto the towpath.

I picked up my bag and staff and continued in the same direction as before. I didn't look back but sensed that the black barge was no longer there. The mist had gone and above my head the sky was bright with stars. I walked and walked mindlessly, too numb for thought.

Early morning and I was climbing above Caster, heading south towards Chipenden. I reached the Spook's house late in the evening. I found him sitting on the bench in the western garden, deep in thought, staring towards the distant fells.

I sat down beside him without a word, unable to meet his eyes. He placed a hand on my shoulder and patted it twice before standing up.

'It's good to see you back,' he said in a kindly voice. 'But I can see that something has affected you badly. Now look at me and spit it out. Whatever it is, you'll feel better if you get it off your chest, lad. Just start at the beginning and go on. '

So, apart from Grimalkin's promise of a gift, I told him everything: the sudden appearance of the sinister black barge; what the Fiend had said about Alice being his own daughter; my struggle to escape. I even told him how Alice had been prepared to use the dark to protect me using a blood jar. How she'd got Morwena's blood and had intended to mix mine with it to keep the Fiend away. That Mam had used a mirror, telling Alice to use anything to keep me safe.

Finally I explained how I felt. That I hoped with all my heart that the Fiend had lied and that Alice wasn't his daughter.

As I finished, my master sighed deeply; it was a long time before he spoke.

'My head's spinning with what you've just told me, lad. I find it particularly hard to believe what you said about your mam: whatever she was in the past, in my judgement she's now a powerful servant of the light. Maybe the girl lied about that? Alice would do anything for you, and no doubt she wanted to save you at any cost. She knew you wouldn't like her methods so maybe she said that about your mam just so you'd accept it. Does that make sense?'

I shrugged. 'It's possible,' I admitted.

'So let's take it one more step. I'm asking you now: how can you be sure, lad? How can you be certain that Alice isn't exactly who the Fiend says she is?'

'I'm sure,' I said, trying to fill my voice with conviction. 'It can't be true. '

'Look into your heart, lad. Are there no doubts there at all? Nothing that worries you in the slightest way?'

There was something that had been bothering me, and I'd been thinking about it all day as I walked back to Chipenden. The Spook was staring at me hard so I took a deep breath and told him.

'There's something I never told you before,' I said. 'When Alice frightened those soldiers away and rescued me, she used something she called Dread. But her head was covered with snakes and I felt cold when she approached. She looked like the most frightening witch I'd ever seen. Did I see the truth of things by the moonlight that night? Did I see her as she really is?'