Author's Note: This story is set after Tom's training as a Spook even though I know Joseph is still writing the last books, but this is just how I wish things ended, especially for Tom and Alice and the whole story is on Alice's POV, hope you like it. I do not own anything, all those rights go straight to Joseph Delaney. R&R :)
Chapter 8: The Plan
We all entered the house. It wasn't huge, but it seemed at least comfortable. In the kitchen, a woman was washing the dishes. She came to the living room and look at us in surprise.
"Who are those?" she asked Mark, she didn't seem very happy.
"Charlotte, be nice to our guests. They'll spend the night. It's just for tonight," Mark tried to calm her down. "Jason, I don't know if you met my wife. Charlotte, this is Jason. He helped me when we were broke."
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am. This is Alice and Mr. Gregory," Jason said smiling.
"I can't believe this!" Charlotte turned to her husband. "You brought home a Spook! If anybody hears about this, we are dead. Dead! Did you hear me? Besides, you never told me that you owned money to a boy! What's wrong with you?" she screamed and left to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry about that. Charlotte has been acting like that because of the baby. Hormones, you know. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to talk to her. Make yourself at home," Mark tried to apologized.
"It's ok. I understand your wife's fear. Could you give us some privacy? It's for just an hour or a little more," Old Gregory said sitting on the couch.
Mark left, Jason sat next to Old Gregory and I sat in the opposite couch. Old Gregory showed us a map in the coffee table. We were trying to figure out what to do to save Tom, but anything was possible because we had no idea of where he was. We traced more than a hundred plans but all of them would fail if we tried. An hour later, Mark entered the room and Old Gregory looked at him furiously.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help to I hear some things you've said. And I would like to say that I have information that might help you."
"Say it," Jason got up.
"This boy that you are looking for, he was brought by Dr. Eskure two nights ago. Dr. Eskure has been giving orders here in Pendle and I still don't know why the other clans haven't stopped him."
"That's not really helping us. If you have something that's actually important, please just say it," I said getting nervous.
"Ok, I saw a few Mouldheels taking him to Mab's house. He's probably in her basement. Besides, tonight Dr. Eskure is going to start the ritual. He is trying to ask for Fiend's help to give him more strength to start a new dark era. So, his followers and the Mouldheel clan will be occupied with the ritual. They won't be very worried about watching the boy. The ritual starts in an hour but be careful, at midnight, Dr. Eskure is making the connection with Fiend and when that time comes, nowhere in Pendle will be safe."
"That's actually very interesting. Can you show us in the map where's Mab's house?" Old Gregory asked.
Mark pointed a small point on the map. Mab's house wasn't far but it would take a while to get there. Old Gregory thanked Mark and asked him to leave the room. When we were alone again, Old Gregory started to plan how we were getting there without getting caught and we had to find a way to stop Dr. Eskure's ritual before he could speak to Fiend and save Tom too, of course. While Old Gregory was talking, I felt Jason staring at me, but every time I looked at him, he would just look away to Old Gregory, as if he was paying attention. When the plan finally seemed perfect, we decided to leave. From the house we could hear some music, so we assumed that the ritual had started. Jason called Mark before we left.
"Thank you, Mark," he said.
"You're welcome, Jason. You're always welcome here," Mark gave Jason a fake smile.
"I don't need your fake hospitality. When I come back to Pendle, I'll pass by and you be able to pay what you still owe me," Jason turned back and led us to the door.
Outside, the moon was shinning and there weren't any clouds in the sky. It was the perfect night for a ritual and to save Tom. As we planned, Old Gregory headed to where the music was coming from. He was going to hide to watch the ritual and to try to understand what exactly was going on. Jason and I were going to save Tom and we would meet Old Gregory later. Then, when the right time came, we would stop the ritual, but we had no idea of how many people were going to be there and Old Gregory needed to make sure we didn't need more people to help. Jason and I headed to Mab's house, there was probably someone watching Tom. While Jason distracted the person, I would save Tom and get out of there.
It was easy to follow the path to Mab's house, the moonlight helped us all the way, even though I swear I saw something flying above us in the direction of the ritual, but I wasn't sure of what or who it was. However, I had an idea of it.
When we got to the house, Jason hid and I knocked on the door. An old witch opened the door.
"Excuse me. I need to talk to the Mouldheel leader," I said.
"She isn't here," The witch said. "She went to the ritual."
"Can you tell me where it is?"
The old witch left the door and came out of the house. She got by my side and pointed the way to me. Jason came from behind and hit her on the head with a tree branch. The old witch fell on the ground. We hid her body in a bush next to the house the front door was still open, so we entered. I tried to smell any other person in the room, but Mark was right, the others were at the ritual. However, it was just too easy.
"There must be someone else here," I whispered to Jason.
"Let's try to find a door to the basement. Be careful," he whispered back.
"Ok, just try to avoid mirrors," I walked to the first door in my right, but it was just the bathroom.
Jason started to open the other doors to his left. When I opened the door that led to the kitchen, I smelled somebody scent. It was another Mouldheel. She was sleeping in a chair while she was supposed to be "watching" Tom. I called Jason and he made sure she wasn't going to wake up so early by hitting her head with the same tree branch he had hit the first witch. We started to look for a trapdoor, when we heard a noise coming from near the oven. Jason helped me to open the trapdoor and out of there, Tom came out.
