Free The Spook’s Revenge: Book 13 (Spooks) by Delaney Joseph

night before I left the farm to begin my job as the Spook’s apprentice. Her skin was pale, but her eyes were bright; apart from a few grey streaks in her black hair; she looked far too young to have grown-up married sons.
    ‘I’m proud of you, son,’ she said to me. ‘Whatever happens, I want you to know that.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Mam, if I let you down. But I could never perform that ritual. I couldn’t sacrifice Alice.’
    ‘There’s no need to apologize, Tom. It was your decision to make, and what’s done is done. Maybe the Fiend can be destroyed in other ways. Nothing is certain. At the moment everything hangs in the balance. You must draw upon your strengths: some came from your dad, because you’re a seventh son of a seventh son; others came from me, for lamia blood courses through your veins. You are already aware of some of those gifts, but more will become apparent as you grow up. There is one you need now; one that would not normally have emerged for many years. But I reached out to bless you with it earlier. It is a gift that a hunter needs – the ability to know the location of his prey!’
    Mam began to rock back and forth on her chair, smiling at me all the while. So I smiled back, hoping the moment would never end. But the dream began to fade. I could still see her smile, and I wanted to hug her, but then she was gone . . . I woke up to the sound of a distant cock crowing and the eastern sky pink with the promise of sun. The dream was vivid and real in my mind. My head was whirling with thoughts. Was it more than just a dream? I wondered. Could it really have been Mam talking to me?
    If it was, she seemed to have forgiven me for not being prepared to carry out the ritual she had decreed. She had also used the word ‘hunter’ – I would receive the gift that a hunter needs. In the first year of my apprenticeship she had told me that one day I would be the hunter; then it would be the dark that would be afraid.
    Mam had been giving me important information. She said she had reached out to unlock the gift. Somehow it all made sense. That was why, lying in my bed in the Spook’s house, I’d had the strange feeling that something was wrong. And, yes, I’d known exactly which direction to take. My new gift had led me to the cottage where Grimalkin lay gravely injured. It was lovely to think that I might really have been talking to Mam, and for a while I was filled with hope. But as the seconds became minutes, the dream seemed less substantial; soon I felt it was merely wishful thinking. What was I doing fooling myself and wasting time? I sat up and cursed myself for sleeping right through the night. The witches would be even further ahead now. Wasting no time, I ate half the remaining cheese and set off west again. This time I didn’t run; I would save that for later. My legs felt stiff, and I contented myself with a fast stride to loosen them up.
    I thought about Lukrasta again. He had abducted Alice – Grimalkin had been unable to do anything to stop him. What had happened when he attempted the ritual with the Doomdryte ? And more importantly, what might Alice be suffering now? I thought fearfully. I felt helpless. He could be anywhere, and even if I could find him, what could I hope to do against such a mage?
    By late morning I was getting worried. I hadn’t found the witches’ tracks again; I was now crossing meadows and rough pasture rather than following lanes and tracks. This meant they could already have turned and headed for the coast. I estimated that I was presently about four miles from the sea, heading south, somewhere between Formby and Liverpool.
    I came to a halt, filled with uncertainty. Then, very suddenly, there was a flash of light behind my eyes and a pressure on my forehead – and I knew precisely where they had gone. It was something very similar to the feeling I’d had back in my bedroom in Chipenden – the conviction that something was terribly wrong. Now I felt that