Fury of the Seventh Son (Book 13) Read Online Free Page A

little. Now sit yourself down and listen to what I’ve got to say,” he said, pointing to a stile we were approaching.
    I set down our bags next to the hedge, took a seat, and watched the Spook pacing up and down in front of me, his boots flattening the long grass. It reminded me of our lessons in the pretty western garden behind his house, where there were no bound witches or boggarts. It was a long time since we’d done that, and I missed it. Nowadays he usually taught me in his new library or at the kitchen table.
    â€œWe’ve already agreed that we can’t use the ritual—it’s barbaric. But we need to ask ourselves some serious questions.” The Spook came to a halt and looked me straight in the eye. “I asked you what your mam looked like when she appeared to you in Malkin Tower. You said she was like a fierce angel, but then she changed into the woman I spoke to at your farm, the woman we accompanied to Greece to fight the Ordeen. I remember her well. She had an honest, open face. I sensed a tremendous strength in her and, above all, goodness. That woman would never ask you to sacrifice Alice—never mind kill her in such a cruel, inhuman way. So my conclusion is this, lad. You’ve been deceived. That wasn’t your mam. Someone or something was impersonating her.”
    I could understand why the Spook said what he did. But this time his instincts had let him down. I still knew things that he didn’t. Now was the time to tell him more.
    â€œJust before she left me, Mam turned back into that cruel angel. She’s very old, and only a very small part of her existence has been in human form. She became Mam for two reasons. One was because she loved my dad and wanted to repay him for rescuing her when she was chained to a rock, about to perish in the sun’s lethal rays. The other reason was so that she could have me, a seventh son of a seventh son. I would be her son as well as my father’s, so I would inherit some of her gifts, such as the ability to slow or halt time—the gifts that have helped us come through some dangerous situations and bind the Fiend. She had me so that I would be a weapon to be used against the Fiend. That was why I was born. She would do anything to put an end to him. And if it means killing Alice, then she would do that, too.”
    â€œI’m still not convinced, lad.”
    There was nothing for it. I had to tell him the whole truth, something I’d always hoped to avoid.
    â€œMam was the first lamia,” I told him. “She was the mother of them all.”

CHAPTER IV
    T HE U NEXPLAINED

    T HE Spook stared at me for a long time without saying a word. Then he turned, bowed his head, and started to walk slowly away. He’d almost reached the gate at the far end of the field before he stopped and paced back toward me.
    â€œThis seems to be a day for truths,” he said quietly. “Let’s get ourselves back to the library.”
    I stood up, allowing my master to climb over the stile first, then picked up our bags and followed him miserably back to the Chipenden house.
    Once there, he led the way up to the library and pointed to my usual chair at the table. I took a seat while he went to get a book from the almost-empty shelves. I knew which book it would be.
    The Bestiary.
    There was an entry that the Spook had made in this book, which was the only one that had survived the fire. I knew it almost word for word because it was so important and painful to me personally. He set the book down in front of me, open at the page I’d predicted. The heading was LAMIA WITCHES .
    â€œRead the full entry—not out loud, because I remember what I wrote. I just want to be sure you know what you’re saying about your mam.”
    Feeling more and more despondent, I read the account silently.
    The first Lamia was a powerful enchantress of great beauty. She loved Zeus, the leader of the Old Gods, who was already