Free Spook's Secret (wc-3) by Joseph Delaney Page B

T don't like the sound of this, lad! From now on her morning dose needs to be three quarters of an inch in the bottom of a cup. I don't want to do it but we've no choice.'
        He looked really down in the mouth. I'd rarely seen him look so dejected. But I soon found out that it wasn't just because of Meg.
        'I've had some bad news, lad,' he told me, sinking wearily into a chair by the kitchen fire. 'Emily Burns has passed away. She's been cold in her grave for over a month.'
        I didn't know what to say. Long years had passed since he'd been with Emily. Since then Meg had been the woman in his life. Why should he be so sad?
        'I'm sorry' I said lamely.
        'But not half as sorry as me, lad' the Spook said gruffly. 'She was a good woman, Emily. She had a hard life but always did her best. The world will be a poorer place now that she's gone! When the good die, it sometimes unshackles evil which would otherwise have been kept in check!'
        I was going to ask him what he meant by those mysterious words, but at that point Meg started to stir and opened her eyes so we lapsed into silence and he didn't mention Emily again.
        
        At breakfast on the eighth morning after we'd arrived, the Spook pushed back his plate, complimented Meg on her cooking and then turned to me.
        'Well, lad, I think it's about time you went to see how the girl's coping. Think you can find your way?'
        I nodded, trying not to grin too widely, and within ten minutes I was striding down the clough to emerge onto the hillside with the open sky above. I headed north of Adlington, towards Moor View Farm, where Alice was staying.
        When the Spook had decided to travel to his winter house, I'd assumed that the weather would break soon afterwards, and indeed it had been getting steadily colder. But today things seemed to have changed for the better. Although it was a cold, frosty morning, the sun was shining, the air was clear and I could see for miles. It was the kind of morning when it feels good to be alive.
        Alice must have seen me approaching down the hill because she came out of the farmyard and walked up to meet me. There was a small wood just outside the boundary of the farm and she waited there in the shadow of the trees. She looked really gloomy, so I knew, even before we spoke, that she wasn't happy in her new home.
        'It ain't fair, Tom. Old Gregory couldn't have found me a worse place to stay! Ain't much fun staying with the Hursts.'
        Ts it really that bad, Alice?' I asked.
        'Be better off at Pendle, and that's saying something.'
        Pendle was where most of Alice's family of witches lived. She hated it there because they treated her badly.
        'Are they cruel to you, Alice?' I asked, becoming alarmed.
        Alice shook her head. 'Ain't laid a hand on me yet. But they don't talk to me much either. And it didn't take me long to work out why they're so quiet and unhappy. It's that son of theirs - the one called Morgan, who Old Gregory asked about. Cruel and mean, he is. A really nasty piece of work. What kind of son would hit his own father and shout at his mother till she cries? He don't even call 'em Mam and Dad. 'Old Man' and 'Old Woman' is the best they get from him. Scared of him, they are, and they lied to Old Gregory because Morgan visits a lot. Dread his visits, they do. Nothing to do with me, but I can't stand much more of it. If need be, one way or another, I'll sort him out.'
        'Don't do anything yet,' I told her. 'Let me talk to the Spook first.'
        'Don't think he'll exactly be rushing to help. Reckon Old Gregory's done it on purpose. That son of theirs is one of his own kind. Wears a cloak and hood and carries a staff too! Probably asked him to keep an eye on me.'
        'Well, he's not a spook, Alice.' 'What else could he be?'
        'He's one of the Spook's failed apprentices and they don't get on. Remember the