The Spook's Mistake
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Joseph Delaney |
|---|---|
| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Last Apprentice - America |
| Genre | Children's Fiction |
| Publisher | The Bodley Head, an imprint of Random House Children's Books |
Publication date |
5 June 2008 - UK 28 August 2008 - America |
| Pages | 448 |
| ISBN | 0-370-32931-7 |
| OCLC | 213382226 |
| Preceded by | The Spook's Sacrifice |
| Followed by | The Spook's Secret |
The Spook's Mistake is the third in the Wardstone Chronicles children's fantasy series by Joseph Delaney. In the U.S. it has been titled: The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye. It was first published in 2008.
Plot Summary
Tom and Alice are annoyed that the Spook will not allow them to leave the house for fear that the Fiend will get them. While the Spook is away, Tom goes to the village alone to get the groceries, ignoring Alice's protests. On the way back, he is captured by a press-gang, a group of men who force boys into the King's army. While tied up one night, Tom senses the presence of a dark force which takes the form of a malevolent witch, scaring the men away.
It is only when the witch comes close to him that Tom realizes that it is Alice using a type of magic called Dread. Keeping this a secret from the Spook, they tell him that Alice got the men to chase her allowing Tom to escape. The Spook decides to send Tom to another Spook who was once another apprentice of his, Bill Arkwright, for further training.
Soon they are on the way to Caster, where Tom is collected by a ferryman and brought to the boundary of Bill's home. Tom lets himself into the house to find that Bill has left to deal with business, leaving Tom a note saying not to harm the ghosts that live in the house.
Tom soon learns that Bill is a drunk. He almost drowns Tom while teaching him how to swim, and beats him with his staff while teaching him how to fight. Tom is also scared of Bill's two vicious wolfhounds, Tooth and Claw.
Having enough, Tom leaves in the middle of the night to return home after only the third day. He realizes that the dogs have been stalking him and Bill is waiting for him ahead. He gives Tom the letter that the Spook had sent to Bill. It says that after the treatment Bill gave previous apprentices, the Spook had intended to never send another to him. However, Tom is the greatest threat to the Fiend and therefore must fight to survive, and Bill is the only one who can teach him that.
Tom returns to study with Bill, learning about water witches and improving his swimming. During a training exercise, he is ordered to find a path through the marshes to reach an abandoned monastery. The dogs would be sent after him, and if he reaches the monastery first he wins. While running through the marshes he sees a woman in front of him, and too late he realizes that it is a water witch. Using her single bloodeye to paralyze him, she hooks his ear before dragging him into the marsh. Just in time, Claw saves him by biting the witch’s finger off.
Back at the house, Tom learns that the witch, called Morwena, is the Fiend's daughter, and Bill has been hunting her for years. After Tom sends a letter to the Spook, he and Bill leave with the dogs to hunt for the witch. On the advice of a hermit who has the ability to find anyone, they come to a village and lodge in a tavern. Bill becomes violently ill, so Tom takes Claw with him to look for the witch. When they return, they find Claw's mate, Tooth, dead, and Bill's broken staff and boot floating in the water.
Back at the inn, Tom uses a mirror to contact Alice and tell her of Bill's death. Afterwards, he and Claw leave to return to Bill's house. They elude the witch chasing them and reach the house. That night, one of the house ghosts, Bill's mother, tells Tom that he is still alive and is being held captive.
The next morning, Tom goes to the river, where a bargeman gives Tom a letter from the Spook, saying that Tom must leave immediately for Caster. While the bargeman insists that Tom leave straight away with him, Tom instead goes back to the house to check on the dog and get his staff. There he finds Alice and the two soon realize that the bargeman is actually the Fiend himself. They are captured by him and used as bait in a trap for the Spook, but the Spook manages to free them.
Together they find Bill and rescue him with the unlikely help of the witch assassin Grimalkin. But the Fiend once again takes the upper hand, demanding that Tom fight his daughter Morwena. The Fiend will take the lives of Alice, Bill and the Spook if he does not.
Grimalkin once again offers her help to ensure the death of Morwena, and Tom accepts but asks her why she is sure that the Fiend will not turn up and kill everyone because she broke the rules. Grimalkin replies that she once gave birth to one of the Fiend's children and whoever births a child of the Fiend is protected from him. It is revealed that Alice contacted her and asked her to protect Tom.
After Tom and Grimalkin slay Morwena, Grimalkin asks Tom to visit her at midsummer (according to tradition it is on the midsummer after the 14th birthday that the son of a witch becomes a man) for a gift.
Learning that Alice has been using some witch powers, the Spook decides to bury her in a pit, but Tom and Bill plead for her and so the Spook relents and banishes Alice to Pendle instead. Before she leaves, she gives Tom the blood jar containing Morwena's blood so that he can protect himself, but he refuses to use it. Knowing it is unlikely she will see him again, she kisses him on the lips for a few seconds before turning and running to Pendle. The Spook then departs and Tom finishes off his six months training with Bill.
On his way back to Chipenden the Fiend once again finds Tom. The Fiend tells him that Alice's mother and father were not her real parents, but rather he and Bony Lizzie are. After Tom later informs the Spook of this, John Gregory reveals he had his suspicions all along. Together they conclude that Alice used her own blood in the blood jar, so desperate was she to protect Tom.
Characters
Background
The author was inspired by his choice of a setting. Having toyed with the idea of water witches for some time he decided that a journey to the north of Lancaster seemed a good way to involve them. As he likes introducing a new character with each book, he chose Bill Arkwright. He seemed a good choice because he'd already been mentioned in the past books as a spook Tom should train with.
Joseph Delaney confesses that rather than planning the plot, he likes to let the book develop on their own and is himself, quite often, surprised with the results. He also finds inspiration in his dreams.
Another influence was his editor, Charlie Sheppard, who detected a pattern in his preference for underground settings and suggested an island. This suggestion later developed into the two towers linked by the underwater passage.[1]
References
- ↑ Spook's World, the Background section.
External links
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