Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties." Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county?

Tom is dismayed when his master the Spook decrees that they will be spending the winter on gloomy and forbidding Anglezarke Moor but soon discovers the reason for his master's decision, as they tangle with two dangerous witches and struggle to keep a dark mage from resurrecting an ancient evil.

Reading level: age 10 and up The continuing adventures of Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son and apprentice to the local Spook, who faces danger and death daily in his job protecting the region from evil.

Slither lurks in woods and towns, hunting for human blood, but before he can feast on three lovely sisters, their dying father binds the monster to a bargain.