Then, unexpectedly, one morning the weather did change. I'd kept thinking about the threat to Dad, hoping that, first chance, we'd be off after Morgan. But it wasn't to be. With the sunshine came spooks' business. My master and I were called away east, to Piatt Farm. It was boggart trouble, or so it seemed.
It was an hour or so before we could get started because first the Spook cut himself a new staff of rowan wood, and when we finally arrived, after a two-hour slog through the deep snow, there was no sign at all that a boggart had been in the vicinity and the farmer apologized profusely for being mistaken, blaming it on his wife, who was prone to sleepwalking. He said she'd moved things in the kitchen and clattered pots and pans to disturb the household, waking up the following morning without any memory of having done so. He seemed embarrassed at having called us out for nothing and almost too eager to pay the Spook for his trouble.
I was furious that we'd wasted precious time and told the Spook as much on the way back. He agreed. T smell a rat,' he said. 'Unless I'm mistaken, lad, we've been sent on a wild goose chase. Ever seen anyone so keen to put his hand in his pocket and pay?'
I shook my head and we doubled our pace, the Spook out in the lead, eager to get home. We arrived to find the back door was already open. The lock had been forced. After checking that the cellar door and the gate were still secure, the Spook told me to wait in the kitchen and went upstairs. Five minutes later he came down shaking his head angrily.
'The grimoire's been taken!' he said. 'Well, lad, we certainly know who we're looking for! Who else would it be but Morgan? He's got Golgoth in his power enough to stop the snow, and then he plots and schemes to rob us.'
It seemed odd to me that Morgan hadn't tried to steal the grimoire before. It would have been easy enough during the summers, when Meg was locked in the room on the cellar steps and the upper part of the house was empty. But then I remembered what the Spook had told me - the promise Morgan had made to his mother not to try and raise Golgoth again. Perhaps he'd kept his word until his mother died; after he'd mourned her, he now felt free to do whatever he wanted.
'Well, there's little we can do today but get ourselves down to Adlington and ask that brother of mine to come up and fix the door,' said the Spook. 'But don't mention the grimoire. I'll tell him that in my own time. And on our way we'll pay a little visit to Moor View Farm. I doubt I'll find Morgan there but I've a few things I need to ask the Hursts.'
I wondered why he didn't want to tell Andrew about the grimoire, but I could tell that he wasn't in the mood for questions.
We set off right away for Moor View Farm. When we arrived, the Spook went in alone to talk to the Hursts and told me to wait in the yard. There was no sign at all of Morgan. My master spent some time in the farmhouse and came out frowning. Tight-lipped, he led the way to Andrew's shop.
The Spook behaved as if it were just a brotherly visit, making me wonder again why he made no mention at all of what had happened. It was good to see Alice though. She made us a late supper and we warmed ourselves in front of the big fire in the living room before seating ourselves at the table. After we'd finished eating, the Spook turned to Alice.
'That was a good supper, girl,' he said, giving her a faint smile, 'but now I've got private business to attend to with my brother and Tom. So it's best if you take yourself off to bed!'
'Why should I go up to bed?' she asked, bristling with anger. T live here, not you.'
'Please, Alice, do as John says,' Andrew said mildly. 'I'm sure there's a very good reason for him not wanting you to hear what's about to be said.'
Alice gave Andrew a withering look, but it was his house and she obeyed, almost slamming the door and stamping heavily up the stairs.
'The least she knows, the better,' said the Spook. 'I've just been to see the Hursts and had a bit of a talk with the wife about why young Alice left. It seemed she quarrelled with Morgan and went off in a temper, but in the couple of days before that, they'd been quite close and spent a lot of time together in his downstairs room. It may be nothing. It may well be that he just tried to win her over in the way he tried it on with the lad,' he said, nodding towards me. 'Tried and failed. But just in case, if s better that she doesn't hear this. This morning
Morgan broke into my house and stole the grimoire.'
Andrew looked really concerned and opened his mouth to speak but I beat him to it. 'That's not fair!' I told the Spook. 'Alice hates Morgan. She told me so herself. Why else would she have left? There's no way she would have helped him.'
The Spook shook his head angrily. 'Some lessons are going to take longer to hammer into your daft head than others!' he snapped. 'After all this time you still haven't learned that the girl can never be fully trusted. She'll always need watching. That's why I've made sure she's close by. Other than that I wouldn't allow her within ten miles of you.'
'Look, hang on a minute,' Andrew interrupted. 'You say Morgan's got the grimoire! How could you be so foolish, John? You should have burned that infernal book while you had the chance! If he tries that ritual again, anything might happen. I was hoping to see a few more summers before my time is up. It should have been destroyed. I just can't understand why you've kept it all these years!'
'Look, Andrew, that's my business and you'll just have to trust me on that one. Let's just say that I had my reasons.'