Secrets in the Dark (34 page)

“
You have less than an
hour to figure it out.” I thought of Mrs. Larsen and wondered how
Olivia could possibly explain it. “Good luck with that.”

Olivia glared and said,
“Gee, thanks.”

We hurried down the road
past the cabin. Olivia kept asking herself what she was
going to tell her mom. I sure hoped she could
think of something before she got home.

We finally made it back to
the tree. After a quick goodbye and thanks to our familiars, we
made our way through. As usual, I was really glad when I got safely
out on the other side. I told the others I’d call Ronny and make
plans to meet after school on Monday. Then we hurried home, wanting
to get away from the cemetery before the Rejects followed
us.

Chapter 36

What’s Up With
That?

We weren’t able to go to
Chris and Ronny’s on Monday after all. Olivia hadn’t been able to
think of an excuse for losing her backpack, and her mom grounded
her for a week for being careless. “After all,” Olivia said,
sounding disgusted, “I couldn’t tell her the truth.”

“
You’re usually good at
telling her only as much of the truth as you want. What
happened?”

“
What, like, Hey mom, I
left my backpack in the bottom of a cave. What cave? Whoops, can’t
tell you.”

“
Okay, so not that
part.”

“
You always yell at me for
telling people only the parts I want them to know, ‘cause that’s
like lying.
Now
you think that’s what I should’ve done?”

“
Well, in this case,
telling the whole truth wouldn’t be such a great idea.”

“
Well, in this case, I
couldn’t think of one thing I could tell my mom.”



The next Saturday we
hurried to tell Ronny what happened. Brady was excited about the
changes to the map. “I’m learning how to use magic. I wished the
entire cave would show up on the map. Look...” He waved the map at
her.

Ronny looked both pleased
and worried when she saw all the changes.

“
Look at these blue marks.
They appeared when Kat asked to see if there was something we
should look for. There’s still treasure in the cave.” Brady didn’t
notice the concern growing on Ronny’s face. “Then Kat wished she
could see us on the map and we appeared as green dots.”

I told her, “Brady wished
Fangface would help get us out of the cave when he broke the
lightberries.”

“
Who is Fangface?” Ronny
asked, looking alarmed.

“
Fangface is what he calls
his familiar. It’s a bat. Anyway, Fangface led us out of the
cave.”

“
So things keep growing
more and more strange inside Chimera.” Ronny shook her head. “My
Mother was right. She suspected you could use the magick in
Chimera, but I did not know how easy it would be for you. I do not
know if you understand how amazing that map is. You should not be
able to make things appear on it like that.”

“
Actually, we shouldn’t be
able to
go
to
Chimera. No, that’s not it. Chimera shouldn’t exist.” Brady smiled
at her. “But I’m glad it does. I can’t wait to see what else I can
show on the map.”

Olivia said quickly, “I
keep wishing the map would work here, but it only works in
Chimera.” She sighed. “It would be so great if we could make it
work in Santa Ramona.”

Ronny laughed. “I wish you
good luck. No one from Chimera has ever made any but
the most basic spells work here in the mundane
world. Not since Chimera was first created.”

“
Um, there’s something
else you should know.” I thought of the creature that attacked
Brady and began to shake. My arms shook. My knees shook. Even my
insides. “Brady got attacked by a…thing. It was huge, and covered
in long dark hair. Or fur, maybe. I only got a glimpse. It smashed
into Brady as it crossed the path. It…it looked like it bumped into
him on purpose.”

Ronny’s brows drew together
in a frown. “I cannot tell what it was from that description. It
could have been more than one creature.” She licked her lips before
continuing. “You saw something alive. That means there may be
others alive as well. I will take that as a hopeful
sign.”

She looked at Brady and
told him, “It makes me far less hopeful when I think how Ghalynn
wrote the Annihilation Prophecy in the cave.” She didn’t say it,
but I thought she was afraid it had something to do with everyone
missing from Chimera.

She had the pages from the
chest spread over her table, next to Brady’s notes. She took a
moment to show some to Brady, pointing out different symbols and
their meanings. Then she told him how sentences were normally
structured.

She said, “Ghalynn wrote
most of this. He’s never written in code before, but he used to
spend a lot of time with my father. I told you my father was from
the human world?”

When we all nodded, she
said sadly, “Ghalynn was teaching him about the languages in
Chimera. I used to sit with them when I was young. My father
has
been gone a long time now, but I still
miss those times with him and Ghalynn.”

She smiled wistfully as she
continued, “Ghalynn taught us Runic and Standard Chimeran, while
Father taught us English. English fascinated Ghalynn. They
sometimes discussed the differences for hours.” She shook her head.
“I thought I really understood our language well after all those
sessions. But I do not understand this at all.”

She jumped to her feet and
paced the length of the table, randomly touching various pieces of
paper. “It does not make sense that I cannot read these pages! And
those strange symbols from the cave. What can they
mean?”

She whirled around and told
Brady, “I do not understand how you translated that into the
Annihilation Prophecy. The words are written so strangely in your
notes. Are you sure you wrote it down exactly?”

“
Yes. I was
very conscientious because I knew it could be
important. And I know the importance of signs in Chimera. You don’t
forget when you get warned about the road that leads to certain
death!”

“
He was totally careful.”
I leaned forward and met Ronny’s worried gaze. “We want to know
what’s happened to everyone too. We’ve spent a lot of time trying
to find out what happened to your mom. And right now, those symbols
Brady wrote down are the only clue we’ve got.”

“
Understanding how your
language works will make it easier,” Brady assured her. “I’m going
to figure out what these writings mean. I’m not going to give
up.”

“
I know I forget to tell
you often, but I appreciate everything you are doing.”

“
Um, it’s not exactly a
hardship or anything. We like going to Chimera,” Doug told her,
grinning so wide it made my cheeks hurt to look at him.

Ronny closed her eyes, then
nodded. She looked at each of us, ending with Brady. “Thank you
all. I can tell you about the first two pages in the chest, as they
were in standard Runic. I will translate for you.” She cleared her
throat and the page trembled briefly. “The first page is from
Mother.”

If you are reading
this, it has all gone terribly wrong.

There are many
rumors. Some say the Southern witches are plotting to take over
Chimera. Some say one witch plans to take Chimera for herself, even
if it causes irreparable harm. The only thing that is certain is
that a serious takeover shall be attempted
soon.

There are few now
I can trust. I was sure Ghalynn was one of those, but after this
last week, I do not know what to believe.

He swears he wants
only to protect Chimera, but I saw him as he hid something by the
lake. I don’t think I can afford to trust him now. He acted so
guilty, and refused to explain his actions. Even when I ordered him
to do so as the ranking Council member. He would only say it could
be the one thing to save us, if he had interpreted the signs
correctly.

He would not
explain those words. Instead, he turned his back and left me. No
one has seen him since.

Please know, once
I discovered the true extent of the threat, I tried to find what
was hidden. But Ghalynn concealed it with a spell I have not been
able to break.

He did tell me one
thing more, though I hesitate to share it. As he turned away, he
said what was hidden could only be found by Mundane magick. I know
what you are thinking; there must be something wrong with him. All
know that Mundane magick cannot exist.

The belief that
Ghalynn has either gone mad or joined a plot to take over Chimera
is near to breaking me. He has always been my dearest friend. And
in spite of everything, I still believe he wishes no harm to
Chimera.

I must also advise
you to avoid Morgana, though this causes me great pain. Some
whisper it is she who would like to take Chimera for
herself.

I pray they are
wrong.

I know my sister
has long been called evil. All know I disapprove of her treatment
of the Mundane. Though many have tried to stop her, she has enjoyed
the terrible names the Mundane have called her throughout history:
Morgan Le Fey, Banshee, Siren, Fury, Maleficent, Medusa, Hecate,
Snow Queen, Harpy. There are so many. Each has been an
embarrassment to those who would live in peace with the
Mundane.

But with all her
faults, she is still my sister. I do not wish to believe she would
betray Chimera. I only ask that whoever finds this be
wary.

Last, I would ask
that you find my daughter and make sure she remains safe in the
Mundane world. Tell her she has my love.

Always.

Glenna
Danaan

Ronny’s voice broke and
her eyes were wet. “My mother wrote this,” she said, her voice
cracking. “She never told me she was
worried about treachery.”

I asked quickly, “Who’s
Morgana?”

“
My aunt. The one who
poisoned the apples.
I
have no trouble believing the whispers about her. I am sure
she bears evil intent, but I did not know about the witches in the
South. I am so worried. Chimera is still there, but my friends and
family are not. Something is very wrong and I can do nothing from
here. I have tried time and again to enter Chimera, but it is
blocked to me.”

She turned and looked at
Brady. “I have been re-reading Mother’s Book of Light and Shadow.”
She bit her lip so hard I was worried it would start bleeding.
“There are many pages ripped out. I do not know if Mother removed
them or if it was someone else. If it was Ghalynn, we might find
where he hid them.”

She dropped her head in her
hands and was quiet for a long moment, breathing hard. “I am sorry.
You have done so much for me. All I can ask is whether you are
still willing to help.”

I looked at Olivia, Faith,
Doug and Brady. They all nodded. I told her, “We’re still with you,
Ronny. What do you want us to do?”

“
Then would you please
make one more trip to the cave. After that, you should go to the
lake and look for what Ghalynn hid there. You are not magick, but
you
are
Mundane.
Maybe that will be enough.”

I nodded. “We can do
that.”

“
It worries me you have no
one to help you while you are there. Please remember to be careful.
Now that I know you are climbing cave walls, and being bothered by
trolls, I will be even more worried until you get back
safe.”

I looked at my friends
again. Everyone, even Faith, nodded. I turned back. “We can do
this, Ronny. We’ll find what’s in the cave. And whatever Ghalynn
hid, we’ll find that too.”

Chapter 37

Who Ya Gonna
Call?

November took
forever.

To pass the time, we kept
making suggestions about what might be hidden under the blue ‘X’
marks. Our ideas grew bigger and wilder as the month went
on.

We immediately shot down
most of them.

Olivia was all for a magic
lamp, like Aladdin’s.

Brady told her we could
already use magic in Chimera, at least some of the time. So we
didn’t need an annoying blue genie messing with us.

Faith thought we might find
another treasure chest, this time full of gold and
jewels.

Doug told her Chimera was
not a pirate island.

Brady wanted more pages to
decode. The more he had to look at, the easier it would be to
translate things we found.

Olivia told him he was
boring.

Doug hoped for another map
— one that would show us where to go next.

Brady said he was going to
wish that would show up on the map we already had.

I told them I was hoping to
find something from Ronny’s mom that would give us a clue what
happened.