I watched her for another five minutes or so. She was left-handed like me—maybe it was something that all seventh daughters had in common with seventh sons.

“Right, that’s enough!” I said after a while; Jenny was panting with the exertion. “Let’s go and have some breakfast.”

Even though the sun was shining, there was the chill to the air and our breath steamed. It was still a lot colder than was usual in early September—a fact that was really beginning to worry me.

“Why don’t you teach me about witches rather than boggarts?” Jenny asked as we walked back through the trees. I’d told her that boggarts was the best topic with which to start her training—and I’d noticed a momentary tightening of her mouth. She hadn’t said anything at the time, but now she’d obviously had time to reflect.

“In the first year, an apprentice always learns about boggarts,” I told her sternly.

“Some of the practical work, such as casting the chain, applies to witches. So why can’t I learn some theory too? Witches are scary, but they’re more interesting.”

“Are they now?” I said, an edge of sarcasm in my voice. “Well, soon you might get to meet another witch face-to-face. Grimalkin, the witch assassin of the Malkin clan, is studying the lair of the Kobalos mage that captured you. When she’s finished, she’ll no doubt call in here to tell me what she’s learned.”

Jenny’s face showed a flicker of fear.

“Don’t be scared,” I said gently. “She’s an ally.”

“I wasn’t thinking about the witch,” Jenny retorted. “I was remembering how it felt to be helpless in the jaws of that beast.”

“It’ll take time to get over a terrible experience like that, but the memory will pass.”

Jenny nodded and looked thoughtful. “She’s a witch who kills people—is that right?” she asked.

“Yes, but she usually kills clan enemies.”

“You’re a spook and she’s a witch, so why aren’t you dealing with her? Shouldn’t you put her in a pit? It’s almost as if you’re on the same side.”

“A few years ago we formed an alliance with her,” I explained. “My master, John Gregory, didn’t like it, but in the end even he accepted it as a necessity. The beast that nearly killed you is just the advance guard of thousands of dangerous Kobalos warriors. They are Grimalkin’s enemies, and also ours. That’s why a spook is in alliance with a witch.”

Jenny fell silent, and we headed for the kitchen and had our breakfast. Immediately afterward, I collected the measuring rod and a spade and led the way to the southern garden. Holding the spade brought back the sad memory of burying my master, but I forced it from my mind and concentrated on the lesson.

I halted under the branch of a tree and pointed upward. “You’re going to dig a pit suitable to bind a boggart in,” I told Jenny. “First of all, you have to choose the right location. This must always be under a branch. It has to be a strong branch, too, because a block and tackle—a system of chains and a pulley—will be hung from it to support the stone lid that is eventually lowered to bind the boggart in the pit.”