‘So that was why they called in this Raphael Hix?’
‘That’s right. Because Raphael Hix was the only priest they knew who had actually practised this spiritual decontamination. It was known about by the Catholic Church and it was known to be highly effective when it came to curing people who were thought to be possessed by demons and cleansing houses that had been taken over by dark forces. But it was officially disapproved of, because it was a combination of Christian exorcism and Druidic chants, with some rituals thrown in that you could only describe as witchcraft. Sticking scores of cloves into slugs, for instance, until they resembled hedgehogs, and having them crawl up the walls. In Druidic culture, cloves are supposed to be spiritually cleansing.’
‘You’re not going to do that, are you?’
‘I’m going to have to, and a few other gruesome things besides.’
‘You haven’t brought the slugs in your bag, have you?’ Grace asked him, leaning over to look inside it and wrinkling up her nose.
‘No, no. I won’t be carrying out the decontamination until tomorrow. It’ll be a good time to do it, because Raphael Hix recommends carrying out the ritual during the three days when the moon’s energy is at its strongest. “Full moon magick” he calls it, with a “k”.
‘If it’s all right with you, though, I’d like to look around the house one more time and carry out one or two preparatory tests – things I was hoping to do with Father Salter.’
He stood and picked up the walking stick he had brought with him. They could see now that the silver knob on the top was in the shape of an old woman’s head, with her eyes closed.
‘This is a wand, rather than a walking stick,’ he told them. ‘The woman is Cailleach Bheur, the Druidic goddess of air and darkness. Her name means “the veiled one with the shrill voice”. She detested sunlight and warm weather. In the summer she would turn into a grey rock, and lie there waiting for the darkness and the cold days to come. She used a wand like this to strike against walls to find out if anybody was hiding inside them, and if there was, she would strike the wall again and turn them into ice.’
He smacked the wand in the palm of his hand. ‘I don’t think I’m capable of doing that, but it might help me to locate where the force in this house is hiding.’
‘I’ll come with you, if you like,’ said Rob. ‘You never know what might jump out at you.’
31
They went upstairs first, and along the corridor to the stained-glass window of Old Dewer. Francis tapped the glass gently with the silver head on the top of his wand and then held the wand up straight.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘There’s some energy there. Here – hold it. You can feel the force for yourself.’
Rob took hold of the wand just below Francis’s hand. It was faintly humming, like a tuning fork. The vibration lasted only a few seconds before it died away, but he had distinctly felt it.
‘Maybe we should smash this window,’ said Rob. ‘That would get rid of some of its power, wouldn’t it?’
‘No, no – we don’t want to do that. This window has been put here for a reason, and I don’t think it’s the reason that you’ve always believed.’
‘We were told that it was to keep Old Dewer from coming into the house and stealing our souls. If he saw that we respected him, he’d stay away.’
‘Nice story, but not very likely. I’d say it was put here so that he could continue to keep an eye on the outside world, even though his real force is hidden somewhere else. At the moment he’s looking outward, isn’t he, so that he can see the garden and the moor beyond it. But you said that you saw him turn around, so he’s obviously capable of keeping watch on what goes on in the house, too.
‘His force possesses this house, Rob. It completely possesses it. It’s his energy that gives the witching room its capability of trapping people in time, and it’s his energy that allows them to walk around at night, whispering. The same as the Lamper in Old Thorndon Hall.’
‘You said that we shouldn’t say his name out loud, but we have, and nothing’s happened.’
‘I know. And do you know what that tells me? This isn’t Old Dewer at all. It might be the same presence that Dartmoor folks came to call Old Dewer, but they were wrong. This isn’t the Devil we’re dealing with here. This is something totally different.’
‘So you really think you know what it is?’
‘As I said, I have a good idea. But I won’t want to speak its name until I’ve found it. I’ve dabbled in some strange and dangerous things since I’ve been a gleaner, but I’m not suicidal.’
*
They went into the end bedroom, and Francis knocked three times on the dado with his wand. When he had done that, he handed the wand to Rob, and Rob could feel a prickle running down it, as if it had become charged with electricity.
‘The force in these walls is really strong, as I would have expected, but let’s see what it’s like in the other bedrooms.’
They went into one bedroom after another, with Francis tapping at the walls. He tapped at the walls as he walked along the corridors, too, and ended up in the bathroom.
‘It’s much weaker in all of these other rooms. Feel it now, Rob… there’s hardly any buzz at all. Let’s try downstairs.’
As he followed Francis down the stairs, Rob noticed that several strands of his
