Spook's Secret (wc-3) (24 page)

    'As I told you, they had a daughter. She was about the same age and her name was Eveline. Young as they were, Morgan and Eveline fell in love. Her parents would have none of it because they wanted them to be brother and sister, so they beat them both; made their lives not worth living. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Eveline drowned herself in the lake. After that, Emily begged me to get Morgan away from there and take him on as my apprentice. At the time it seemed a reasonable solution, but I had my doubts and I was proved right. Three years he lasted, until finally he went back to Emily, but he couldn't keep away from

    Moor View Farm. He still lives there sometimes - at least that's when he's not making mischief elsewhere.

    'The sister must be a lingerer, someone who's not been able to cross over to the other side. And because of that, he's got her in his power. And there's no doubt that he is growing stronger. He certainly seems to have had some power over you. You'd better tell me exactly what's been happening between you.'

    So I did, and as I talked, the Spook kept prompting me for details. I began with my meeting with Morgan at the graveyard chapel on the edge of the moor and ended with our conversation at Emily Burns's grave.

    'I see,' said the Spook when I'd finished. 'It's clear enough now. As I told you before, Morgan was always fascinated by that ancient burial mound up on the moor. Dig into it long enough and you're bound to find something. Well, when he was my apprentice, he finally found a sealed chest with the grimoire inside. And that grimoire contains a ritual which is the only way to raise Golgoth. So thafs what he tried to do.

    Fortunately I got there before the ritual had gone too far and put a stop to it.'

    'What would have happened if he'd succeeded?' I asked.

    'Doesn't bear thinking about, lad. One mistake in the ritual and he'd have been dead. Better that than completing it successfully. You see, he'd followed the instructions to the letter and drawn a pentacle on the floor of his room in Moor View Farm, a five-pointed star within three concentric circles. So if he got the rest right, he was safe enough inside there. But Golgoth would have materialized on the outside of the pentacle and have been loose in the County. Not for nothing was he called the Lord of Winter. It might have been years before summer returned. Freezing death and famine might have been our lot. Morgan offered up the farm dog as a sacrifice. Golgoth never touched it but the poor animal died of fright.

    'So, as I said, I stopped Morgan in time. I terminated his apprenticeship and took the grimoire off him. Then his mother and I made him promise that he on would leave Golgoth alone and not try to raise him again. She believed his promise, and for her sake I gave him every chance and always hoped that her faith in him would be justified. But as I'd stopped him part of the way through the ritual, some of the power of Golgoth had already awoken and attached itself to him. Your mother was right - this is going to be a bitter winter. I'm convinced thafs to do with Golgoth and Morgan. After Morgan left my care, he turned to the dark and his powers have steadily increased. And he thinks that the grimoire will give him ultimate power.

    'Already he can do things that a man shouldn't. Some are little more than conjuring tricks, like changing the temperature in a room to impress the gullible. But now it seems that he can also bind the dead to his will - not just ghosts but also spirits that hover in Limbo between this life and the other side. It pains me to say this, lad, but it looks very bad. I really do fear that Morgan has the ability to hurt your poor dad's spirit...'

    The Spook looked up at the skylight, then down at the writing desk. He shook his head sadly. 'Well, lad, get yourself downstairs and we'll talk this through some more ...'

    Fifteen minutes later my master was sitting there quietly in Meg's rocking chair and pea soup was simmering away in a pan.

    'Got much appetite, lad?' he asked.

    'I've not eaten since yesterday' I told him.

    At that he grinned, revealing the gap where the boggart had knocked out his front tooth, got up, put two bowls on the table and ladled hot soup into them. Soon I was dunking bread into the delicious steaming soup. The Spook didn't bother with the bread but he did empty his bowl.

    'I am really sorry your dad's passed away' he said, pushing the empty bowl away from him. 'He should have had nothing to fear after death. Unfortunately Morgan's using the power of Golgoth to hurt your dad and get at you through him. But don't worry, lad, we're going to put a stop to it just as soon as we can.

    And as for the other nonsense, Morgan's not my son and never was.' He looked straight into my eyes again. 'Well, do you believe me?'

    I nodded, but I can't have done it convincingly enough because the Spook sighed and shook his head. 'Well, lad, either he's a liar or I am. You'd better decide which one of us it is. If there's no trust between us, there's no point in you carrying on as my apprentice. But one thing's for sure, I wouldn't let you go off with him. Before that I'd take you by the scruff of your neck, give you back to your mother and let her knock some sense into that thick head.'

    His tone was harsh, and after all that had happened I felt really upset. 'You couldn't take me back to my mother' I told him bitterly. 'I was too late for the funeral and I didn't even get to see her. Afterwards she went off somewhere - maybe back to her own land. I don't think she'll be coming back...'

    'Well, give her space, lad. She's just lost her husband and needs time to mourn and think. But you'll be seeing her again and not before too long, I'm sure. And

    that's not prophecy. It's good common sense. If she goes, she goes, but she'll want to say a proper farewell to
all
her sons before she does.

    'Anyway, it's a terrible thing that Morgan's been doing, but don't worry - I
will
find him and stop.him once and for all.'

    I was too weary to say anything, so I just nodded my head. I hoped he was right.

The Chapel of the Dead

    
F
or all the Spook's promises, it wasn't possible to deal with Morgan right away. For the next two weeks the weather was so bad, we hardly ever went outdoors. Blizzard after blizzard surged up the clough, whirling snow against the windows and burying the front of the house almost up to the level of the first-floor bedrooms. I was starting to believe that Golgoth had indeed been woken and was grateful that Shanks had had the foresight to deliver extra provisions. When the Tuesday that Morgan had appointed for our meeting arrived, I was nervous and half-expected to see him turn up at the house. But the blizzards were so bad that no one would have made it    across the moor. Still, every hour trapped in that house felt like torture. I was desperate to get out and find Morgan and put an end to my father's misery.

    My master made us carry on with our usual routine of sleeping, eating and lessons during the blizzard, but something new was added. Every afternoon he went down the steps to the cellar to talk to Meg and take her something to eat. Usually it was just a few biscuits, but sometimes he carried the remainder of our lunch down. I wondered what the two of them talked about when he was down there, though I knew better than to ask. We'd agreed no more secrets but I realized the Spook still expected some privacy.

    The other two witches had to manage the best they could, chewing on worms, slugs and anything else they could grub out of the damp earth, but Meg was still a special case. I half expected that, one day soon, the Spook would give Meg her herb tea again and bring her up from the cellar. She was certainly a far better cook than either of us, but after all that had happened I couldn't help feeling safer with her down in the pit. I did worry about the Spook though. Had he gone soft? After all his warnings about not trusting women, here he was breaking all his own rules again. I felt like telling him as much, but how could I when I could see that he was upset about Meg?

    He still wasn't eating properly and one morning his eyes were red and swollen, as if he'd been rubbing them. I even wondered if he'd been crying and that made me think about how I would behave in a similar situation. What if I were the Spook, with Alice down there in the pit? Wouldn't I be doing the same? I was also wondering how Alice was getting on. If the weather ever improved, I'd decided to ask my master if I could pay a visit to Andrew's shop to visit her again.

    Then, unexpectedly, one morning the weather did change. I'd kept thinking about the threat to Dad, hoping that, first chance, we'd be off after Morgan. But it wasn't to be. With the sunshine came spooks' business. My master and I were called away east, to Piatt Farm. It was boggart trouble, or so it seemed.

    It was an hour or so before we could get started because first the Spook cut himself a new staff of rowan wood, and when we finally arrived, after a two-hour slog through the deep snow, there was no sign at all that a boggart had been in the vicinity and the farmer apologized profusely for being mistaken, blaming it on his wife, who was prone to sleepwalking. He said she'd moved things in the kitchen and clattered pots and pans to disturb the household, waking up the following morning without any memory of having done so. He seemed embarrassed at having called us out for nothing and almost too eager to pay the Spook for his trouble.

    I was furious that we'd wasted precious time and told the Spook as much on the way back. He agreed. T smell a rat,' he said. 'Unless I'm mistaken, lad, we've been sent on a wild goose chase. Ever seen anyone so keen to put his hand in his pocket and pay?'

    I shook my head and we doubled our pace, the Spook out in the lead, eager to get home. We arrived to find the back door was already open. The lock had been forced. After checking that the cellar door and the gate were still secure, the Spook told me to wait in the kitchen and went upstairs. Five minutes later he came down shaking his head angrily.

    'The grimoire's been taken!' he said. 'Well, lad, we certainly know who we're looking for! Who else would it be but Morgan? He's got Golgoth in his power enough to stop the snow, and then he plots and schemes to rob us.'

    It seemed odd to me that Morgan hadn't tried to steal the grimoire before. It would have been easy enough during the summers, when Meg was locked in the room on the cellar steps and the upper part of the house was empty. But then I remembered what the Spook had told me - the promise Morgan had made to his mother not to try and raise Golgoth again. Perhaps he'd kept his word until his mother died; after he'd mourned her, he now felt free to do whatever he wanted.

    'Well, there's little we can do today but get ourselves down to Adlington and ask that brother of mine to come up and fix the door,' said the Spook. 'But don't mention the grimoire. I'll tell him that in my own time. And on our way we'll pay a little visit to Moor View Farm. I doubt I'll find Morgan there but I've a few things I need to ask the Hursts.'

    I wondered why he didn't want to tell Andrew about the grimoire, but I could tell that he wasn't in the mood for questions.

    We set off right away for Moor View Farm. When we arrived, the Spook went in alone to talk to the Hursts and told me to wait in the yard. There was no sign at all of Morgan. My master spent some time in the farmhouse and came out frowning. Tight-lipped, he led the way to Andrew's shop.

    The Spook behaved as if it were just a brotherly visit, making me wonder again why he made no mention at all of what had happened. It was good to see Alice though. She made us a late supper and we warmed ourselves in front of the big fire in the living room before seating ourselves at the table. After we'd finished eating, the Spook turned to Alice.

    'That was a good supper, girl,' he said, giving her a faint smile, 'but now I've got private business to attend to with my brother and Tom. So it's best if you take yourself off to bed!'

    'Why should I go up to bed?' she asked, bristling with anger. T live here, not you.'

    'Please, Alice, do as John says,' Andrew said mildly. 'I'm sure there's a very good reason for him not wanting you to hear what's about to be said.'

    Alice gave Andrew a withering look, but it was his house and she obeyed, almost slamming the door and stamping heavily up the stairs.

    'The least she knows, the better,' said the Spook. 'I've just been to see the Hursts and had a bit of a talk with the wife about why young Alice left. It seemed she quarrelled with Morgan and went off in a temper, but in the couple of days before that, they'd been quite close and spent a lot of time together in his downstairs room. It may be nothing. It may well be that he just tried to win her over in the way he tried it on with the lad,' he said, nodding towards me. 'Tried and failed. But just in case, if s better that she doesn't hear this. This morning

    Morgan broke into my house and stole the grimoire.'

    Andrew looked really concerned and opened his mouth to speak but I beat him to it. 'That's not fair!' I told the Spook. 'Alice hates Morgan. She told me so herself. Why else would she have left? There's no way she would have helped him.'

    The Spook shook his head angrily. 'Some lessons are going to take longer to hammer into your daft head than others!' he snapped. 'After all this time you still haven't learned that the girl can never be fully trusted. She'll always need watching. That's why I've made sure she's close by. Other than that I wouldn't allow her within ten miles of you.'

    'Look, hang on a minute,' Andrew interrupted. 'You say Morgan's got the grimoire! How could you be so foolish, John? You should have burned that infernal book while you had the chance! If he tries that ritual again, anything might happen. I was hoping to see a few more summers before my time is up. It should have been destroyed. I just can't understand why you've kept it all these years!'

    'Look, Andrew, that's my business and you'll just have to trust me on that one. Let's just say that I had my reasons.'