Joseph Delaney

Now thirteen years old, Tom Ward continues his apprenticeship with the Spook as they confront a dangerous bane who can control people's thoughts.

Provides insights into the life of Grimalkin, one of the deadliest witches in the country, if not the world, whose uneasy truce with the Spook's apprentice, Tom, unites them against the ultimate evil of the Fiend.

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."

When witches steal Tom's inheritance and kidnap his relatives, Tom, the Spook, and Alice set out for Pendle Hill, a particularly dangerous district, in hopes of preventing the three witch clans from uniting to raise the Fiend, the Devil himself, thus bringing about an age of darkness.

Returning from Greece, Tom and the Spook find that their home, including the Spook's precious library of knowledge, has been burned to the ground, and that their battle against the denizens of the dark must continue.

"Alice Dean's destiny is intertwined with Tom Ward's. But he's going to be the next Spook, and she's a witch--possibly the most powerful one the county has ever seen. To rid the world of its greatest evil, the Fiend, Alice will venture into the depths of the dark"--

The Last Apprentice series follows the terrifying adventures of the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward. But Tom's is only one story. There are others. . . .

The Spook himself was once an apprentice. How did he begin his training?

And what of Alice, the young witch who is Tom's closest ally? How did she overcome her dark past?

What did the witch assassin Grimalkin do to become the most deadly and feared witch in the county?

And,

...

Separate tales reveal the backgrounds of four terrifying witches, including Alice and the Spook's love, Meg.

"In his job as the county's spook seventeen-year-old Thomas Ward is used to battling boggarts, witches, and other creatures of the dark. But now he and his apprentice, Jenny, must team up with former rivals and enemies to fight the evil Kobalos warriors intent on destroying the county. The fight has cost the life of a strong ally, Grimalkin the witch assassin. Determined to end the war with the demons, Tom leads Jenny and Alice to Pendle for one last...

"Thomas Ward faces his ultimate test as he and his master prepare to deal with the Fiend once and for all"--