Read The Spook's Battle for Free Online

right and this was the best way to help Jack, but as I finished my account, tears came into my eyes at the thought of what had happened. The Spook stared hard at me for a couple of seconds and then stood up. He began to pace back and forward across the flags before the kitchen hearth."I'm sorry for you, lad. It must be hard. Your dad dead, your mam gone away, and now this. I know it's difficult, but you've got to keep your emotions in check. We need to think clearly now, with cool heads. That's the best way to help your family. The first thing I have to ask is what you know about those trunks in your mam's room. Is there anything you haven't told me? Have you any idea at all what they might contain?""Mam used to keep the silver chain she gave me inside the trunk nearest to the window," I reminded him, "but I've no idea what else was inside.
     What Mam told me was very mysterious. She said that I'd find the answers to a lot of things that might have been puzzling me. That her past and her future were inside those trunks and I'd discover things about her that she'd never even told Dad.""So you've no idea at all? Are you sure?"I thought hard for a few moments. "There might be money inside one of the trunks.""Money? How much money?""I don't know. Mam used some of her own money to buy the farm, but I don't know how much there was in the first place. There must have been something left, though. Remember at the beginning of the -winter, -when I called home to collect the ten guineas Dad owed you to pay for my apprenticeship? Well, Mam went upstairs and got them from her room."The Spook nodded. "So they could well have come for the money. But if the girl's right and witches are involved, I can't help thinking there must have been something else. And how did they know the trunks were there?""Alice thinks they may have been spying -with mirrors.""Does she now! Father Stocks mentioned mirrors, but I can't see how they could have seen the trunks in a locked room. It doesn't make sense. There's something more sinister behind this.""Like what?"
     "I don't know yet, lad. But as you have the only key, how did they get into the room without breaking the door? You say your mam protected the room in some way to keep out evil?""Yes, but Alice thinks they made Jack go in because they couldn't enter themselves. There was blood on the wall and the floor," I said. "I think they must have hurt Jack and made him go in and fetch out the chests --though how the door was opened is still a mystery. Mam said that room was a refuge --"I felt myself choke with emotion, and the Spook came forward and patted my shoulder in reassurance.
      Then he waited silently until I'd gotten my voice under control."Come on, lad, tell me.""She said that, once it was locked, I could go in there and be safe from anything evil on the outside. That it was even better protected than your house. But I was only to use it when I was being pursued by something so terrible that my life and soul were at risk. She said that there was a price to pay for using it. That I was young and it would be all right, but that you couldn't use it. And that if it ever became necessary, I had to tell you that."The Spook nodded thoughtfully and scratched at his beard. "Well, lad, it gets more and more mysterious. I sense something deep here. Something I've never come across before. What we face is even more difficult now that innocent victims are involved, but we've no choice but to go ahead. We'll be setting off for Pendle within the hour--we can find somewhere to sleep on the way and arrive after dawn, when it's safer. I'll do all I can to help your family, but I have to tell you this: There's more at stake here than just their lives. As you know, I've decided to try and deal with the Pendle witches once and for all. And not a moment too soon --Father Stocks brought some very bad news. It seems that the rumors were true. The Malkins and the Deanes have already called a truce, and moves are now