The Last Apprentice: The Dark Arts

Epilogue

I downed my mug of coffee, then placed it on the kitchen table. I wiped my lip on my sleeve. “Good stuff,” I said as I took a piece of buttered bread and chewed on it contentedly. “Same thing with this. Thank you, Grimalkin.”

“We need to talk, now that you’re awake,” she said.

“No ‘you’re welcome’? I see how it is.”

“I don't have time. I'm sorry if I seem rude. I'm sure you don't remember what happened after you blacked out, correct? I thought so. I will answer your questions, but quickly. There are things I still need to do. I have to bring the witches of Pendle back into line before they destroy the entire County.”

I agreed with that last part. I would try not to keep her for too long. “Can you fill me in on what happened? Where we were? What I did? And . . . how did I end up at the Spook’s House? That doesn’t make any sense. We were at Jack’s farm, before we went into that . . . other place.”

Grimalkin sighed, curling her fingers together upon the rough table. Logs in the fireplace popped as flames danced over them. “I’ll be brief. That other realm was the Dark. The Alchemist used his powers--which I don’t fully understand--to take us there. Those same powers . . . he used them to control me. I’m sorry for anything I had done. That wasn’t me, doing them.

“Anyway, you became a lamia. Kind of. It allowed you to kill the Alchemist, though. As far as I can gather, whenever he injured you, he had used his magic. That magic remained with you, and, since it was dark magic, it permeated you and tapped into the blood you inherited from Lamia. You became a creature of the dark because of the Alchemist’s magic.”

No words could describe how I felt to hear that. Me? A creature of the dark? Though it was a part of me, though it had come from my Mam, it . . . deeply unsettled me. “Does it still remain inside of me?”

“Yes,” Grimalkin said. “Though it is dormant for now. The Alchemist is dead, his magic gone. That is why your wings and your scales are gone.”

“Wings?!”

She chuckled. “You really forgot that much? Yes. Wings. You became a lamia, after all.”

“That’s insane, Grimalkin. I . . . can’t believe it.” I finished what was left of my bread. Forcibly. It was difficult to eat after hearing all this. “Sorry if I’m wasting your time. I just have a few more questions.”

“Go ahead.”

“How are my brother and Judd? And my other brother? His family? Are they safe?”

Grimalkin didn’t answer. She almost . . . hesitated before speaking. But she decided to give me the blunt truth. “I don't know about the fates of those on the farm."

My heart plummeted, thinking about what could’ve happened.

"If you have no other questions, I will need to leave now so that I can keep the Pendle witches from massacring the entire County.”

“Wait,” I said.

“Yes?”

“You forgot to answer one of my earlier questions.”

“Which is?”

“How did we end up at the Spook’s House?”

She didn’t answer me; she just rose from the kitchen table and strode out of the room, out of the house. I scrambled after her. Outside on the front lawn, I asked one more time. Then she said, "All I can say is that . . . you may know her.”

I cocked my head. “Who . . .?”

Ice ran down my spine, chilling me to the core. Alice.

Grimalkin nodded. "By the expression on your face, I can tell you figured it out. It's the truth. I don't know why, but . . . she is powerful, and she works in mysterious ways. I will be leaving. Thank the boggart for not killing me when I decided to stay here and care for you when you were unconscious."

The boggart?

Then, from somewhere nearby, I heard loud purring. I followed the purring to find a big ginger tomcat rolling around the in the grass.

“Kratch!” I said. “I’m glad you’re okay! I'm sorry you got hurt fighting last time I was here. And thank you for allowing Grimalkin to stay. That was a good decision on your part.”

The purring deepened.

When I turned to say one last thing to Grimalkin, she had already left, the forest obscuring her. She was getting to work, to doing what needed to be done. I would do the same. I needed to check on Judd and both of my brothers. After that, I needed to protect the County; I needed to fulfill the job of a spook.

And I would do just that. But first, following all the hardship I had endured, I think I deserved a good rest. Yes, I had slept, but that wasn’t true sleep--the kind that fully and satisfyingly restores you in mind and body. Instead, it was more of a coma. At the Spook’s House, I would rest one more day. I would eat to keep my energy up, exercise to loosen myself up and prepare myself for the long walk to my brother's farm, and . . . I also needed to run a few errands; I needed food for my journey as well as a new cloak and rowan wood staff.

It has been a few hours since my errands. I’m finally ready to head out to Jack’s farm to check on them. I just have to finish writing this. So I will be quick.

On a final note, this ordeal involving the Alchemist was only another incident in my line of work, but a vital one, because I’ve learned something new. I’ve learned I need to be ready for anything, for enemies I'm not equipped to deal with. Surely I will face such foes like the Alchemist again. I must prepare myself before they arrive, though. If I'm not confident in myself and my abilities, then all those I care about and the entire County will be at risk.

But the future is a long way off. There’s no use in worrying about it at the moment, now is there?

Thomas J. Ward