Cherringham--The Curse of Mabb's Farm Read Online Free PDF Page B

sorry, Charlie,” said Jack. “But you’re just going to have to wait till it burns itself out.”
    To one side Jack could see Sarah motionless, clearly shocked by the ferocity of the fire. And up ahead, Charlie was now frozen too, panting and staring. While the farmer gaped at the swirling fire, Jack walked behind him, carefully lifted up the shotgun, broke it, and removed the cartridges.
    Then, resting it over his arm, he walked slowly around the fire, looking for signs that someone had been up there.
    In the woods he saw a flicker of movement. He peered into the darkness beneath the great trees. Was there somebody there now?
    The trees came to within a few yards of the burning Wicker Man. Someone could just have set the fire then retreated fast. And the dense forest gave perfect cover.
    The fire had started fast, with a whoomph of hot air. Jack had seen enough arson to know that natural fires didn’t ignite that way.
    He turned back to the Wicker Man and scanned the grass around it. There was no sign of matches or gas cans. He couldn’t smell petrol — in fact he couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. But he also knew there were accelerants around that left no odour.
    He grabbed a stick that had fallen from the fire, and poked around at the still-burning Wicker Man’s base, a pool of black discolouration in the grass …
    Then, the top half of the Wicker Man suddenly collapsed inwards, sending out a blast of sparks and heat and smoke. Jack retreated quickly until he was level with Charlie.
    “It’s the damn Curse,” Charlie said, almost to himself.
    “Why do you think that, Charlie?” said Jack.
    Charlie turned now, his face bitter. Jack could hear the dark anger in his words.
    “Why’ve you lot come up here?” said the farmer. “You and the girl. What are you after? Want my farm do you? Trying to frighten me off?”
    “No, Charlie,” said Sarah, who Jack now felt at his side. “Like we said, we want to help you.”
    “Right,” said Jack. “We want to find out who’s doing this to you. Maybe we can stop them.”
    “Caitlin says it’s the Devil,” said Charlie. “You two think you can stop the Devil?”
    “I don’t believe in the Devil,” said Jack.
    Nature made fires. People set fires. Or accidents happen.
    In Jack’s universe, there was no need for any Devil.
    Charlie stared at Jack then shook his head. He held out his hand for the shotgun.
    “That’s my gun,” he said. “Don’t worry. I won’t use it on you. Yet.”
    Jack handed the gun over, but not the shells.
    “Now like I said before — get off my land.”
    “Come on, Jack,” said Sarah, nodding to him to leave.
    “Think about accepting our help, Charlie,” said Jack.
    “No need to!” said Charlie. “I’ve got your face now — I don’t want to see you again anywhere on my property.” He gave his unloaded shotgun a shake. “You know I mean that.”
    Jack looked at Sarah, who shrugged.
    Right, Jack thought. They weren’t going to get anywhere here.
    Together they turned and left the clearing.
    They walked in silence through the dark woods. Jack felt as if he truly was in a foreign land here, the trees packed so close together and the whole place so quiet.
    What had happened to the wildlife?
    When they emerged into the meadow, he was glad to see that there was still light in the sky. But even in the pale rays of the setting sun, it felt to Jack as if Mabb’s Hill and the stone circle did indeed cast a spell across the land.
    “Wouldn’t want to spend too much time in there alone,” he said, as they headed down the muddy track to the car. “Kind of a strange place.”
    “Spooky,” said Sarah. “I thought it was just me. And with that fire. I mean, what do you…?”
    “Didn’t smell anything. No devil I’m guessing. But what caused it? Beats me.” He took a breath. “For now.”
    When they reached the broken fence at the bottom of the hill, Jack paused and turned to look back. A whisper of black