Mr Daniel Blood is the Dark Hunter.

  People call him to fight evil demons, vampires and ghosts.

  Edgar and Mary help Mr Blood with his work.

  The three hunters need to be strong and clever to survive...

  Contents

  Chapter 1 The Curse

  Chapter 2 The Witch

  Chapter 3 Opening

  Chapter 4 Bone to Stone

  Chapter 5 Older

  Chapter 6 Stone to Bone

  Chapter 1

  The Curse

  The village of Skarsby was in the north, near the mountains. It lay at the bottom of a huge hill.

  Edgar, Mary and Mr Blood had come to help the village.

  “Skarsby is under a curse,” said Mr Blood. “Look. Nothing grows on the land around the village.”

  They went down the hill and walked along a stream. Nothing grew in the field beside the stream. The next field was worse. There was a huge pile of dead cows in it.

  They came near the village. A smart-looking man with a small white beard hurried to meet them. Other people from the village came with him.

  “You are Mr Blood, I hope?” said the man. “I am Dr Hawkins.”

  “I came as soon as I got your message,” said Mr Blood. “Please tell me about the curse.”

  “For many years this village lived in fear of an old woman,” said Dr Hawkins. “We called her the Stone Witch. She lived in a stone cave up there.”

  He pointed at the rocky slope behind them. Some of the villagers looked away. Some even cursed or spat.

  “Please show me the cave,” said Mr Blood.

  “Very well sir,” said Dr Hawkins. “Come with me.”

  He led Mr Blood, Edgar and Mary up the slope. The villagers came with them.

  Chapter 2

  The Witch

  As they walked, Dr Hawkins told them the story.

  “The Stone Witch put terrible curses on anyone who did not do as she said. She killed people in very nasty ways. She was very old, much older than anyone else here.”

  Dr Hawkins went on, “Then one day, she came down from her cave and into our village. The Stone Witch called us all out into the street and told us that she was dying. We were not sorry.

  “She said that we had to turn her cave into a tomb. We must cover the mouth of the cave with a slab of rock and take food to the tomb once a month.”

  Dr Hawkins looked grim. “She said that a curse would fall on the whole village if we did not do as she told us. Nothing would grow in our fields. Our cows would die. We would all starve.”

  “And has this happened now?” asked Mr Blood.

  “Yes, sir,” said Dr Hawkins. “Nothing grows in our fields. The cows are all dead.”

  “But did you do as she said?” asked Mr Blood.

  “Yes, we did,” said Dr Hawkins. “Her cave is a tomb and every month we all left her food. We don’t know what is going on now. We have done what she told us for seven years.”

  “Seven years?” said Mr Blood. “Then we may be in real danger.”

  Dr Hawkins stopped walking. A thin slab of stone was leaning against some huge rocks.

  “Here is the cave, sir,” he said. “It is behind this stone slab.”

  “I have bad news for you,” said Mr Blood. “Strong witches can cheat death. They put their magic into something else before they die.

  “They stay dead for seven years. Then, if their magic is strong enough, they start to take life from other people. The witch comes back to life in a new shape. And she comes back with even more power than before.”

  The villagers began to panic.

  Dr Hawkins looked pale. “What can we do?” he asked.

  “If you do nothing, she will feed on you, and grow stronger,” said Mr Blood. “She will soon come back to life in her new shape. Then she will open the cave herself.”

  “So you have two choices,” said Mr Blood. “You can do nothing and let her come back. Or you can let me open the cave now. Then I will try to stop her.”

  Some of the people shouted, “Kill her!”

  “We do not want her to come back to life,” said Dr Hawkins. “Please try to stop this now.”

  “Very well,” said Mr Blood. “But I warn you, there will be a curse on the tomb. When I open the cave, the curse will start to act. I don’t know what will happen. But I am sure it will be bad.

  “Now, I will need some help to shift this stone slab.”

  Nobody moved.

  Chapter 3

  Opening

  Nobody wanted to help open the tomb.

  Mr Blood sighed. “Someone, please get me a stick.”

  A very old man stepped forward. He had a long thick piece of wood in his hand.

  “Use this,” the old man said, handing the stick to Mr Blood.

  “I will help you,” said Dr Hawkins.

  He and Mr Blood placed the stick into a gap behind the slab. They pulled on the stick.

  The slab began to move. It fell away from the pile of rocks and slid down the slope. It made a wild screech as it fell.

  Then there was silence.

  Mr Blood walked into the open tomb. Mary stepped forward to follow him. Edgar grabbed her arm.

  “Are you mad?” he hissed. “Did you not hear the story?”

  Mary pushed his hand away. “Don’t you want to see what’s inside?” she said. She went into the tomb.

  Dr Hawkins looked at Edgar. They were both worried. Slowly, they went into the cave.

  There were lots of strange objects on ledges along the walls of the cave.

  Edgar saw small bottles of red liquid, and ugly little carvings made out of bone.

  They walked on. Edgar was too scared to breathe.

  They reached the back of the cave. There was nothing there.

  Edgar sighed with relief and put his hand against one of the walls.

  Above him, something slipped and crashed to the floor.

  Everyone jumped.

  Edgar gave a shout of terror and pointed. The thing that had fallen was a human skull.

  They all looked up. There were more bones lying on a ledge above them. And there was a rough stone statue of a witch. Words were carved on the rock under the ledge.

  Tick tock

  Tick tock

  Bone to stone

  Stone to bone

  “What does that mean?” asked Dr Hawkins.

  “The witch put her magic in that statue,” said Mr Blood. “We must destroy the statue to stop her.”

  “But the statue is made of stone!” said Edgar. “How can we destroy it?”

  Mr Blood didn’t have time to reply. They heard shouts of fear from outside the cave. They ran out into the light.

  The villagers were all standing around the very old man. He was sitting on the ground. A woman began to scream.

  Edgar looked closer, and gasped with horror. The old man had turned to stone.

  Chapter 4

  Bone to Stone

  “What is going on?” shouted Dr Hawkins.

  Edgar looked over at him. Dr Hawkins seemed much older.

  “What is it?” Mary asked Mr Blood.

  Mr Blood turned to face Edgar and Mary. His face seemed older too.

  “Are you alright?” said Edgar.

  There was more screaming. “The witch is coming for us!” howled one woman.

  Another old man had turned to stone.

  The people began to run back down the slope.

  “Time is passing too fast!” said Mary.

  Edgar looked over at her. She was standing next to Mr Blood.

  Mr Blood looked old. He was stooping. But Mary had grown. She was almost as tall as Mr Blood.

  “Quick!” said Mr Blood. “The witch has put a time curse on us. We are all growing old very fast. And when we get too old, we turn to stone!”

  Dr Hawkins leaned against a rock, panting. He looked very old.

  “What do we do, Mr Blood?” Mary asked.

  “Get young people to help,” he said. “They will have the most time left. And you must get the stone statue from the tomb.

  “The witch will grow stronger every time one of us turns to stone. She is feeding on our lives.”

  Mr Blood went on, “There is no time to destroy the statue. So you must find a place to put it where no living person can survive. Then the witch will die as soon as she comes back to life.”

  “The stream!” Edgar shouted. “Nobody can live under water!”

  “Good!” said Mr Blood. “Throw the statue in the stream.” Then he turned to Dr Hawkins. “Go and call for help!” he shouted.

  But Dr Hawkins had turned to stone.

  Chapter 5

  Older

  Edgar ran for help.

  Mary and Mr Blood went back into the tomb.

  The statue had moved a little way along the ledge. It was moving towards the mouth of the cave.

  Mary looked at Mr Blood and gasped. His hair was white. His skin was pale and wrinkled.

  Mr Blood said, “The witch’s statue is starting to move. Her magic is working. You have to get her to the water before she comes to life. After that it will be too…”

  He stopped talking. His skin went grey.

  Mr Blood had turned to stone.

  Mary ran outside and looked down to the village.

  Edgar was running back. He was pulling a barrow with him, but he was alone.

  He ran up the slope. All around him there were people who had turned to stone

before they could get home.

  How can Edgar run so fast with a heavy barrow? Mary thought.

  As he got closer, she noticed he had a beard. He’s a man now, she thought.

  “You look different, Mary,” said Edgar in a deep voice.

  “So do you,” said Mary. “Hurry, or it will be too late!”

  They pulled the barrow into the tomb.

  “Mr Blood!” Edgar cried, seeing the statue.

  “Come on, Edgar! There’s no time to lose!” Mary shouted. “We have to get the witch statue to the stream.”

  The stone witch was now standing down on the ground.

  “The statue is moving by itself!” cried Mary. “Come on!”

  They pushed the stone witch over onto the barrow and slowly dragged it out of the tomb. There was no track down to the stream.

  They slid and pushed and bumped the barrow down the slope towards the water.

  The stone witch’s hands and feet began to move on the barrow.

  Down in the village nobody was screaming any more. There was no sound at all.

  Chapter 6

  Stone to Bone

  “I can’t keep hold of it much longer,” said Edgar. His voice was tired.

  Mary looked at him. His hair was gray, his face lined.

  She looked down at her arms and saw that her skin looked old too. She gave a small cry and let go of the barrow.

  The barrow was too heavy for Edgar on his own. He let go.

  The barrow began to bounce and tumble down the slope towards the water.

  They chased after it. The barrow stopped at the bottom of the slope, a little way from the stream.

  The stone witch had fallen off the barrow. She lay on the ground. Her hands were starting to move, opening and closing.

  Mary and Edgar got to the bottom of the slope.

  They were weak and frail now. It was hard to walk, but they pushed and rolled the stone witch towards the stream.

  Her face began to move. Her legs began to kick.

  They got to the edge of the stream.

  “Push!” Edgar said.

  They pushed the stone witch forwards. The statue crashed into the water.

  The statue’s foot stuck out of the water. It twitched for a few moments, and then stopped moving.

  Edgar and Mary looked at each other. They were no longer an old man and woman. They were young again. They had broken the spell!

  “We’re alive!” said Mary. “But what about Mr Blood and the other people?”

  The sound of cheering came from the village. They looked back up the slope.

  Mr Blood stood at the mouth of the cave, waving to them and smiling.

  This electronic edition published in June 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

  Copyright © 2013 A & C Black

  Text copyright © 2013 Benjamin Hulme-Cross

  Illustrations copyright © 2013 Nelson Evergreen

  First published 2013 by A & C Black

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square,

  London, WC1B 3DP

  www.bloomsbury.com

  The right of Benjamin Hulme-Cross and Nelson Evergreen to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved

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  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

  eISBN: 978-1-4081-8066-2

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