Three more paces brought me to the place I was looking for - there was no doubt about it. Again, there was a border of stones with thirteen bars. There were three differences though. Firstly, the area under the bars was a square rather than an oblong. Secondly, it was bigger, probably about four paces by four. Thirdly, there was no packed earth under the bars, just a very black hole in the ground. I halted in my tracks and listened carefully. There hadn’t been much noise so far, just the faint rustlings of night creatures and a gentle breeze. A breeze so light that I’d hardly noticed it. I noticed it when it stopped though. Suddenly everything was very still and the wood became unnaturally quiet. You see, I had been listening to try and hear the witch and now I sensed that she was listening to me. The silence seemed to go on and on for ever, until suddenly I became aware of a faint breathing from the pit. That sound somehow made it possible to move, so I took a few more steps till I was standing very close to its edge, with the toe of my boot actually touching the stone border. At that moment I remembered something the Spook had told me about Mother Malkin...
‘ Most of her power’s bled away into the earth but she’d love to get her hands on a lad like you
.’
So I took a step backwards - not too far, but the Spook’s words had set me thinking. What if a hand came out of the pit and grabbed my ankle?
Wanting to get it over with, I called down gently into the darkness. "Mother Malkin,’ I said. ‘I’ve brought something for you. It’s a present from your family. Are you there? Are you listening?’
There was no reply, but the rhythm of the breathing below seemed to quicken. So wasting no more time and desperate to get back to the warmth of the Spook’s house, I reached into the basket and felt under the cloth. My fingers closed upon one of the cakes. It felt sort of soft and squishy and a bit sticky. I pulled it out and held it over the bars.
‘It’s just a cake,’ I said softly. ‘I hope it makes you feel better. I’ll bring you another one tomorrow night.’
With those words, I let go of the cake and allowed it to fall into the darkness. I should have gone back to the cottage immediately but I stayed for a few more seconds to listen. I don’t know what I expected to hear but it was a mistake.
There was a movement in the pit, as if something were dragging itself along the ground. And then I heard the witch begin to eat the cake.
I thought some of my brothers made unpleasant noises at the table but this was far worse. It sounded even more revolting than our big hairy pigs with their snouts in the swill bucket, a mixture of snuffling, snorting and chewing mixed with heavy breathing. I didn’t know whether or not she was enjoying the cake, but she certainly made enough noise about it.
That night I found it very hard to sleep. I kept thinking about the dark pit and worrying about having to visit it again the following night.
I only just made it down to breakfast on time and the bacon was burnt and the bread a bit on the stale side. I couldn’t understand why this was - I’d bought the bread fresh from the baker’s only the day before. Not only that, the milk was sour. Could it be because the boggart was angry with me? Did it know what I’d been up to? Had it spoiled the breakfast as some sort of warning?
Working on a farm is hard and that was what I was used to. The Spook hadn’t left me any tasks to do, so I’d nothing to fill my day with. I did walk up to the library, thinking that he probably wouldn’t mind if I found myself something useful to read, but to my disappointment the door was locked. So what could I do but go for a walk? I decided to explore the fells, firstly climbing Parlick Pike; at the summit I sat on the cairn of stones and admired the view.
It was a clear, bright day and from up there I could see the County spread out below me, with the distant sea an inviting, twinkling blue, way out to the northwest. The fells seemed to go on for ever, great hills with names like Calder Fell and Stake House Fell - so many that it seemed it would take a lifetime to explore them.
Nearby was Wolf Fell and it made me wonder whether there actually were any wolves in the area. Wolves could be dangerous and it was said that in winter, when the weather was cold, they sometimes hunted in packs. Well, it was spring now, and I certainly didn’t see any sign of them but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. It made me realize that being up on the fells after nightfall would be quite scary. Not as scary, I decided, as having to go and feed Mother Malkin another of the cakes, and all too soon the sun began to sink towards the west and I was forced to climb down towards Chipenden again. Once more I found myself carrying the basket through the darkness of the garden. This time I decided to get it over with quickly. Wasting no time, I dropped the second sticky cake through the bars into the black pit.
It was only when it was too late, the very second it left my ringers, that I noticed something that sent a chill straight to my heart.
The bars above the pit had been bent. Last night they’d been perfectly straight, thirteen parallel rods of iron. Now the centre ones were almost wide enough to get a head through. They could have been bent by someone on the outside, above ground, but I doubted that. The Spook had told me that the gardens and house were guarded and that nobody could get in. He hadn’t said how and by what but I guessed it was by some sort of boggart. Perhaps the same one that made the meals. So it had to be the witch. She must have climbed up the side of the pit somehow and begun working at the bars. Suddenly the truth of what was happening dawned inside my head. I’d been so stupid! The cakes were making her stronger.
I heard her below in the darkness, starting to eat the second cake, making the same horrible chewing, snuffling and snorting noises. I left the trees quickly and went back to the cottage. For all I knew she might not even need the third one.
After another sleepless night I’d made up my mind. I decided to go and see Alice, give her back the last cake and explain to her why I couldn’t keep my promise.
First I had to find her. Straight after breakfast I went down to the wood where we’d first met and walked through to its far edge. Alice had said she lived ‘yonder’ but there was no sign of any buildings, just low hills and valleys and more woods in the distance.
Thinking it would be faster to ask directions, I went down into the village. There were surprisingly few people about, but as I’d expected, some of the lads were hanging about near the baker’s. It seemed to be their favourite spot. Perhaps they liked the smell. I know I did. Freshly baked bread has one of the best smells in all the world.