Spook’s: I Am Grimalkin Read Online Free PDF Page A

the sack!’
    ‘My servants speak to me all the time, whether I am able to reply or not. They tell me things. I have just learned something very interesting.’
    The mouth smirked, as if relishing what it had been told, and dribbles of blood and saliva ran down its chin. I did not give the Fiend the satisfaction of asking what he knew. He was going to tell me anyway. I just had to be patient.
    ‘It is done,’ he said at last. ‘You are finished – as good as dead. Soon I will be free.’
    ‘I maimed the kretch that your servants created. So do not build up your hopes.’
    ‘Soon enough you will see the truth, witch – very soon, in fact!’
    ‘What? Truth from the Father of Lies?’ said I, laughing contemptuously.
    Always mindful of the Fiend’s comfort, I plucked a big bunch of stinging nettles and spread them within the sack to make him a restful bed. Next, I thrust the green apple and rose thorns back into his mouth.
    ‘Sleep well! Sweet dreams!’ I cried, tying the string to bind him into the sack.
    An hour before sunset I halted and set traps for rabbits. It was a warm pleasant evening and the grass had dried. I was already on the edge of Pendle District, and the hill itself was clearly visible to the northeast.
    I decided to use my mirror to make contact with Alice Deane and see if she, Tom Ward and the Spook had reached the County safely. It was a week since I had last been in touch with her. At that time they had been about to leave the southwest of Ireland and travel overland by coach to Dublin to take a boat home. I was well ahead of them: I had already landed south of Liverpool and made my way northwards, keeping close to the coast before I’d had my first contact with the Fiend’s servants west of Ormskirk.
    Pulling the mirror from its sheath, I said the magical words of contact and waited patiently for Alice to appear.
    The mirror brightened and she smiled out at me.
    ‘I trust all is well?’ I asked.
    Alice nodded. We’ve been home for three days, and Old Gregory has already got people working hard to rebuild his house. We’re sleeping under the stars at the moment! How are you? Is the head still safe? she mouthed.
    ‘Yes, child,’ I told her. ‘There has been danger, but I have survived. The head is still safe in my hands – but I cannot run for ever. Tell Thomas Ward to put his thinking cap on! We need to destroy the Fiend – we must fix him permanently.’
    I smiled at Alice and put the mirror away, staring towards the looming mass of Pendle.
    I was almost home now. When I reached Malkin Tower, would the lamias let me take refuge there? If not, could I take it from them by force? Two together would be difficult to overcome, but if I entered by the tunnel I might be able to lure one down into the dungeons. In theory they were my allies , but if it proved necessary, I would kill them both.
    I felt the mirror move again in its leather sheath. When I pulled it out, Agnes Sowerbutts was already staring at me. She looked concerned.
    ‘I hamstrung the kretch,’ I told her. ‘That danger is past.’
    I only wish that were so , Agnes mouthed back at me. I spied the creature reflected in the surface of a small lake, where it paused to slake its thirst. Now it is following you once more with just the merest of limps. Soon it will be able to run freely again .
    I have now managed to scry the name of its father. The kretch was begat of Tanaki, one of the hidden daemons who are invoked rarely and only with great difficulty. Little is known of him, other than he has great perseverance. Once set on a course, he never deviates until his will is accomplished. Not only that: any defeat makes him stronger. Each time he fights he grows more formidable. Such traits will have been passed on to the kretch. It has been given great powers of healing .
    I frowned and nodded. The hamstringing should have been permanent. This creature was going to be very difficult to overcome. I could no longer allow myself the