Fire Girl by Matt Ralphs Read Free Book Online

straight as she could, she balled her fist and rapped on the door.
    ‘Come in, if you must,’ a voice called. ‘It isn’t locked.’
    Hazel shoved open the door and stepped into a low-ceilinged office. A suet pudding of a man eyed her suspiciously from behind a desk. His frockcoat was under so much strain that the buttons
looked about to ping off and ricochet around the room like musket balls.
    ‘Close the door,’ he rumbled. ‘You’re letting the heat out.’
    Hazel did as she was told and stood in front of the desk, her mind worryingly blank.
    ‘Well?’ he said, scribbling in a ledger with a feather quill that looked tiny clutched between his fat fingers. ‘What do you want?’
    I’ll try being polite
, she thought. ‘If you please, I’d like to take a look at the execution list.’ Not sure what to do next, she dropped a curtsy.
    ‘Would you now?’ the man said, laying down the quill and carefully blotting the parchment. ‘And why does that blood-soaked list interest you?’
    ‘Well, Mr . . . ?’
    ‘
Captain
Price.’
    ‘Well, Captain Price,’ Hazel said, her mind whirring, ‘I wish to make sure that the witches I, er . . . denounced received the justice they deserved.’
    ‘Hazel,
really
?’ came a squeak from just next to her ear.
    Price looked Hazel up and down, pursing his mouth as if he’d eaten something sour. ‘One of Stearne’s informants, are you? The purge is over. Can’t you let the dead rest
in peace?’
    ‘No,’ Hazel said, trying not to wilt under the man’s disgusted gaze. ‘I must see it, to put my mind at rest.’
    ‘Too bad. There is no list.’ He waved his hand over the paper-strewn desk. ‘And there won’t be one until I collate all these reports, and that’ll take days.’
He grabbed a chicken leg from a plate and took a huge bite. ‘It’s enough to make me lose my appetite.’
    ‘No list?’ Hazel said.
    ‘No list,’ he repeated, discarding the stripped bone into an upturned helmet. ‘Tell me who you denounced – I may well remember their fate.’
    Hazel was about to say Mary’s name when a terrible thought struck her.
What if Mary survived the purge? What if the Witch Hunters never found her? If I mention her now, they’ll be
sure to try and hunt her down.
Fluttering with panic, she stared at Price with her mouth still open, trying to think of something to say
.
    ‘Well?’ he said. ‘I haven’t got all night.’
    ‘Rose and Meg,’ she blurted. ‘The woodsman’s family. Both witches, I believe.’
    ‘Ah yes. I remember.’ Price sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. ‘What a scene that was. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that they were the last two people to be executed.
Happy now?’
    ‘Yes, sir. I’m glad justice has been served. Goodnight to you.’ Hazel’s cheeks flushed with shame as she slunk out of the office, closed the door and slumped against the
wall.
    ‘So . . .
that
went well.’
    ‘Shut up, Bram,’ Hazel hissed.
    ‘Come on, there’s no point dwelling on it,’ the mouse replied. ‘You had to tell him something to keep Mary’s name a secret.’
    ‘Did you see the look he gave me?’ Hazel’s voice was shaking. ‘He thinks I’m as bad as the Witch Hunters.’
    ‘Well he’s hardly blameless, is he? He and his men helped in this awful business.’
    Hazel stamped her foot. ‘It was all for nothing. We still don’t know what happened to Mary. Or where to find her –
or
Ma.’ She held back a sob. ‘I just feel
so
stupid
.’
    ‘At least you’re admitting it now,’ Bramley said, tucking himself more firmly into Hazel’s hair. ‘Oh come on, little witch, don’t cry,’ he added,
hearing Hazel sniff. ‘Let’s go back to the woods and try and get some sleep. Things will look better in the—’
    ‘Shush,’ interrupted Hazel. ‘There’s someone coming.’

9
MR DAVID DRAKE, WITCH FINDER’S APPRENTICE

    ‘Fire. That’s the answer.
    Roast ’em down to bones and fat.’
    Witch Hunter Captain John