Free The Spook's Nightmare by Joseph Delaney

arrived, rain clouds were billowing in from the west and the chapel looked forbidding in the grey light. It stood on a hillside, surrounded on three sides by a wood that extended down the slope. All the walls were standing, but there was no roof. The door had been removed from its hinges so we went inside and stared up at the ancient stone walls, which were patterned with moss and lichens.
    ‘Some believe that a buggane haunts a ruined chapel to prevent it being rebuilt,’ said the Spook, ‘althoughthere’s no evidence for that. However, many creatures of the dark shun places where people gather to pray. Some boggarts move the foundations of churches as they’re being built – they can’t bear the sound of prayers. But what concerns me here is the extent of its territory. How far does it roam?’
    ‘There’s the keep!’ I said to Alice, pointing towards the grey tower just visible above a distant wood. Behind it loomed the forbidding Greeba Mountain.
    She stared at it but said nothing.
    ‘That it is,’ Simon said mournfully. ‘The dungeons where they keep the victims for the buggane are on this side, just to the south of the moat …’
    ‘If the buggane’s territory extends that far in every direction, it’s got itself a sizeable domain,’ observed the Spook. ‘Let’s take a walk in that direction so we better know the lie of the land.’
    He led the way south from the chapel ruins. We began to descend the hill, going deeper into the woods, the murmur of running water increasing in volume with every step we took. The ground was saturatedand our boots made squelching sounds as we walked.
    ‘That should be the Greeba River down there in the valley,’ the Spook said, coming to a halt. ‘We’ve gone far enough. This is dangerous terrain – not a place we’ll risk entering after dark. If the buggane does take a different form, it’s likely to be one suited to this boggy environment.’
    ‘Could it take the shape of a worme?’ I asked. Wormes were really scary. When I was working with Bill Arkwright, we had to hunt down one that had killed a child. It had dragged the boy from his bed and eaten him. All that was left was a few blood-spattered pieces of nightshirt.
    ‘It’s possible, lad – but let’s hope not. Wormes are dangerous creatures – sometimes as big as a carthorse. They love marsh and water. This place would suit one all right.’ The Spook turned to Simon. ‘Their bodies are covered with scales that are very difficult to penetrate with a blade. Moreover, they have powerful jaws and a mouthful of sharp teeth, and when on land they spita deadly poison that’s absorbed through the victim’s skin. What results is a very unpleasant death indeed …’
    I remembered the worme we’d finally cornered. It had spat at Bill, but luckily the venom had landed on his boots. I looked down through the trees and thick vegetation. It was so dense I couldn’t even see the river. Alice and I looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. This place gave us a bad feeling.
    We returned to the copse, where Captain Baines was waiting with the dogs. Soon after dark we prepared to set off back to the chapel. It had been raining heavily, but now the moon flickered fitfully through tattered clouds, driven across the sky by a blustering westerly wind.
    ‘Well, lad, let’s get it over with,’ said the Spook, handing me his bag.
    The captain and Simon Sulby were to remain behind with the dogs. I suppose the Spook expected Alice todo the same because he first looked surprised, then frowned as she started to follow us.
    ‘Stay where you are, girl,’ he said. ‘This is spook’s business.’
    ‘I’ve been useful enough in the past,’ Alice replied.
    My master glanced at us in turn, his eyes full of suspicion. He certainly didn’t know about the blood jar, but I could tell that he thought something was wrong.
    ‘Joined at the hip, are you?’ he asked, frowning.
    I smiled and shrugged. With a shake of