01 The Spooks Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

Author:Joseph Delaney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Poor Billy

I was so weak afterwards that I fell to my knees, and within moments I was sick - sicker than I’d ever

been before. I kept heaving and heaving even when there was nothing but bile coming out of my mouth,

heaving until my insides felt torn and twisted.

At last it ended and I managed to stand. Even then, it was a long time before my breathing slowed

down and my body stopped trembling. I just wanted to go back to the Spook’s house. I’d done enough

for one night, surely?

But I couldn’t - the child was in Lizzie’s house. That was what my instincts told me. The child was the

prisoner of a witch who was capable of murder. So I had no choice. There was nobody else but me and

if I didn’t help, then who would? I had to set off for Bony Lizzie’s house.

There was a storm surging in from the west, a dark jagged line of cloud that was eating into the stars.

Very soon now it would begin to rain, but as I started down the hill towards the house, the moon was still

out - a full moon, bigger than I ever remembered it.

It was casting my shadow before me as I went. I watched it grow, and the nearer I got to the house,

the bigger it seemed to get. I had my hood up and I was carrying the Spook’s staff in my left hand, so

that the shadow didn’t seem to belong to me any more. It moved on ahead of me until it fell upon Bony

Lizzie’s house.

I glanced backwards then, half expecting to see the Spook standing behind me. He wasn’t there. It

was just a trick of the light. So I went on until I’d passed through the open gate into the yard.

I paused before the front door to think. What if I was too late and the child was already dead? Or

what if its disappearance was nothing to do with Lizzie and I was just putting myself in danger for

nothing? My mind carried on thinking, but just as it had on the riverbank, my body knew what to do.

Before I could stop it, my left hand rapped the staff hard against the wood three times.

For a few moments there was silence, followed by the sound of footsteps and a sudden crack of light

under the door.

As the door swung slowly open, I took a step backwards. To my relief it was Alice. She was holding

a lantern level with her head so that one half of her face was lit while the other was in darkness.

"What do you want?’ she asked, her voice filled with anger.

‘You know what I want,’ I replied. ‘I’ve come for the child. For the child that you’ve stolen.’

‘Don’t be a fool,’ she hissed. ‘Go away before it’s too late. They’ve gone off to meet Mother Malkin.

They could be back any minute.’

Suddenly a child began to cry, a thin wail coming from somewhere inside the house. So I pushed past

Alice and went inside.

There was

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