So she picked up the candle from its holder on the table and led the way out of the kitchen, through the living room and into the hallway.

    There were two rooms that led from that hallway. With your back to the front door you could go right into the living room; on the left was another door painted black. It had a bolt on the outside.

    'This is it,' Alice whispered, touching the door with the tip of her left pointy shoe and drawing back the bolt. 'If it hadn't been locked, I would've had a nosy round in there already. But now it ain't no problem. Your key'll soon get that open, Tom.' She pointed at the lock.

    My key did unlock the door and I eased it open. It was quite a big room, longer than it was wide, with one boarded-up window at the far end, hung with heavy black curtains. The floor was flagged like the rest of the downstairs, but there were no rugs or carpets. And there were only three items of furniture in the room: a long wooden table with a straight-backed chair at each end.

    Alice led the way into the room.

    'Not much to see, is there?' I said. 'What did you expect to find?'

    'Ain't sure, but I thought there'd be something more,' Alice began. 'Sometimes I hear bells ringing in here. Mostly little bells, they are, ones that you could hold in your hand. But I once heard a funeral bell that sounded big enough to be clanging from a church tower. Then there's often the sound of water dripping and a girl crying. I suppose that's his dead sister.'

    'You hear the sounds when he's inside the room?'

    'Mostly, but even when he ain't home I sometimes hear a dog barking and growling or even snuffling right up close to the door like it's trying to get free. That's why the Hursts always keep it bolted. I think they're scared that something nasty might get out.'

    'I don't feel anything here now though,' I told Alice. There was no sense of the cold that warns me when something from the dark is close. 'The Spook says Morgan's a necromancer who uses the dead. He talks to them and makes them do his bidding.'

    'Where does he get his power from? Don't use bone or blood magic like a witch,' Alice said, wrinkling her nose, 'and he don't have a familiar either. I'd be able to sniff it out for sure if it was one of them. So what is it, Tom?'

    I shrugged. 'Maybe it's Golgoth, one of the Old Gods. You heard what the Spook just said about Morgan digging into that mound and that it would be the death of him? Well, it's a barrow called the Round Loaf and it's high up on the moor. Maybe he's trying to summon Golgoth like the ancients did. Maybe Golgoth wants to be summoned and is helping him in some way. But Morgan can't do it yet because the Spook has something that he needs. Something that would make it easier.'

    Alice nodded thoughtfully. 'That could be it, Tom, but some of the things they said were puzzling too. Don't see Old Gregory and Mrs Hurst together. Find it hard to believe that they were a couple.'

    I found it hard to believe too. Very hard. Anyway, there was nothing much to see, so we left the room and locked and bolted it behind us. There were mysteries to be solved - secrets in the Spook's past - and I was growing more and more curious.

    Morgan didn't show his face at Moor View Farm again, but it was another week before we could travel back to the Spook's house. Shanks was sent for, and we made the journey back with the Spook riding on the little pony and Alice and me walking behind.

    Shanks refused to set foot in the house and went straight back to Adlington, leaving the Spook with us. I'd already told my master how Alice's potions had probably saved his life. He hadn't said anything but he didn't object now when we both helped him up to his bedroom. He still wasn't himself and it was going to take some time for him to recover fully. The journey back had taken it out of him too. He wasn't steady on his legs and he stayed up in his room for a couple of days.

    One thing that surprised me was that at first he never even mentioned Meg. I didn't remind him about her though: I didn't fancy having to go down the steps to the cellar by myself. As she'd spent the whole summer sleeping down there, a few more days wouldn't matter much. So I had to do most of the chores. Alice helped a bit, but not as much as I'd have liked.

    'Just because I'm a girl don't mean that I have to do all the cooking!' she snapped when I suggested that she'd be better at it than me.

    'But I can't cook, Alice,' I told her. 'Mam did it at home, the Spook's boggart did it at Chipenden and Meg did it here.'

    'Well, now's your chance to learn,' said Alice with a smile. 'And as for Meg, I bet she wouldn't be so keen on doing all the cooking without all that herb tea!'

    Then, on the morning of the third day, the Spook finally came wearily downstairs and sat himself down at the table while I did my best to cook the breakfast. Cooking was a lot harder than it looked, but not quite as hard as the bacon ended up.

    We ate in silence until, after a few minutes, the Spook pushed his plate away from him. 'It's a good job I've not much appetite, lad,' he said, shaking his head. 'Because hunger would force me to eat all that and I'm not sure I'd survive the experience.'

    Alice roared with laughter and I smiled and shrugged, pleased to see my master so clearly on the mend. As bacon butties went, I'd tasted better, but I was hungry enough to eat anything and so was Alice. I began to cheer up because it looked like the Spook was going to let her stay.

    The following morning the Spook finally decided that it was time to wake Meg. He was still unsteady on his feet so I went down the steps with him and helped bring Meg back up to the kitchen while Alice heated some water. The effort proved too much for him, and his hands started to shake so much that he had to take himself back off to bed.

    I helped Alice get Meg's bath ready. 'Thank you, Billy,' Meg said, as we began to fill it with hot water. 'You're such a considerate boy. And your pretty friend is so helpful too. What's your name, dear?'

    'They call me Alice ...' she replied with a smile

    'Well, Alice, do you have any family living nearby? It's nice to keep close to family. I wish I had. But now they live so far away.'

    'I don't see my family now. They were bad company and I'm better off without them,' Alice said.

    'Surely not!' Meg exclaimed. 'Why, what on earth was wrong, dear?'

    'They were witches,' Alice replied with a wicked little sideways grin towards me.

    I was really annoyed. That kind of talk might jog Meg's memory. Alice was doing it on purpose.

    'I knew a witch once' said Meg, a dreamy look in her eyes. 'But it was such a long time ago ...'

    'I think your bath's ready now, Meg' I told her, grabbing Alice's arm and leading her away. 'We'll go to the study so that you can have some privacy.'

    Once in the Spook's study, I rounded on Alice angrily. 'What did you have to say that for? She might start to remember that she's a witch herself.'

    'Would that be so bad?' Alice asked. 'Ain't fair, treating her the way he does. She'd be better off dead. Already introduced to her, I was, but she'd forgotten me already'

    'Better off dead? More than likely she'd end up in a pit' I retorted angrily.

    'Well, why don't you just give her a little bit less of the herb tea - so that she has a better life and don't keep forgetting everything? Get the dose just right and she wouldn't remember everything but things could be a lot better for her. Let me do it, Tom. Ain't too difficult. I'll just give her a little less each day until we get it right-'

    'No, Alice! Don't you dare!' I warned. 'If the Spook found out he'd send you back to the Hursts in the blink of an eye. Anyway, it's just not worth the risk. Something might go badly wrong.'