Secrets in the Dark (5 page)

Are they hiding?
Are they just…watching me?

How many times had I seen a
teenager standing clueless on a porch in a movie? Right before a
mask-wearing-knife-wielding maniac leaps out of the bushes. It
would really suck if that happened now. Especially since I wasn’t a
teenager yet.

I looked around nervously,
half expecting someone to jump out and grab me. The faint sound of
gravel crunching close by made my knees shake and I sucked in my
breath in alarm. The night air smelled strongly of salt and dirt
and wet asphalt. I held that breath, keeping very still, my ears
straining for any other sound.

What did I just
hear?

The crunching sound came
again, then grew louder. I drew back, clutching at the doorknob
behind my back.

What is it?

When the neighbor’s dog,
Lucy, trotted out from the side of the house, along the gravel path
Dad built to the backyard, I couldn’t stop the giggle that erupted
from deep inside my chest. I watched Lucy head toward home, and
slumped against the house in relief. I let myself rest there
another minute, but nothing else moved.

After assuring myself there
really was no one there, I brought the package inside and shut the
door, quickly turning the deadbolt.

Note to self – Be careful.
The package might be something nasty from Ray or Andrew!

I held the thin package
tentatively at arm’s length as
I climbed
the stairs to my room. Andrew must be angry we’d gotten away that
afternoon. Who else would leave something for me on the porch, and
then hide?

I grabbed scissors from my
desk and carefully cut away the brown paper and tape, exposing a
blank manila file folder. I opened it warily, ready to drop it if
there was something disgusting in it. Instead, there were several
color copies of old parchment pages, covered with small beautifully
formed letters. The top page said, “Book of Light and
Shadow”.

There was a sticky note
inside that read:

I know where you went.
Read this and share it with your two friends. Meet me tomorrow at
Johnny’s at
8:0
0
am.

There was no signature.

I was reading the note a
second time, wondering what it could mean, when my computer beeped.
I flinched at the sudden noise, then sighed in relief when I
realized it was
8:30. Time to talk to
Olivia and Faith.

My heart was beating hard
enough that my fingers shook, making it hard to key in Olivia’s
number. Faith was already on the line. I described the package on
the porch, and the words written on the note.

They asked me to send them
a copy so I snuck down to Dad’s office and scanned them. While I
waited for Olivia and Faith to get my email, I skimmed through the
pages.

I paced while they read
them. I’d decided what I would do — I was going to check it out in
the morning. I just hoped Olivia and Faith would go with
me.

My knees went weak with
relief when Olivia agreed. Faith was more reluctant. After she
started to complain, for the third time, that we didn’t know who
would be waiting, Olivia said, “Got to go”, and
disconnected.

It was 9:00 pm — our
curfew. Olivia’s mom would be checking to make sure she was off her
phone and computer.

Faith said, “See you,” and
disconnected too, leaving me unsure if she’d be meeting us in the
morning.

My head spun with
everything that had happened. Fortunately, Mom and Dad didn’t seem
to notice anything strange when I wished them goodnight.

As I climbed into bed, I
thought those pages had given us more questions than answers. Who
could have left them? How could they know we’d gone to that strange
place? How did they know who I was? Or where I lived?

But more than that, I kept
thinking about the words on those pages. Could they be
real?

After considering
possibilities that grew crazier by the minute, from Harry Potter to
Invaders from Mars to some elaborate trap staged by Andrew and his
friends, I finally slipped into strange, disturbing dreams. I
tossed most of the night, waking often, sweating, heart pounding.
But I couldn’t remember my dreams when I woke.

Not that I was
complaining.

Book of Light and
Shadow

Creation of
Chimera

The world of men has
turned against us.

Though the alliance
between Magickal and Mundane had always been uneasy, by the year
1536 it had been torn asunder. For 50 years, the book condemning
witches, Malleus Maleficarum, was used by the church to instruct
witch hunters and inquisitors. It was an evil creation, designed to
help identify, interrogate and destroy users of magick.

We no longer believe it
will ever end.

Intolerance and cruelty
has swollen from a trickle to a flood, scouring compassion and
logic from the world. In Europe, tens of thousands were burned for
witchcraft. Tales of evil crones who worshipped the devil were used
against innocent mid-wives and healers. In France, terror of the
supernatural brought about the death of thousands more, accused of
being werewolves.

Such persecutions should
have caused horror in all people of good will, but fear can utterly
destroy reason. It was a time of darkness referred to by many,
Magickal and Mundane alike, as the Burning Times. And it was the
Mundane who suffered, as most beings of magick were able to evade
the inquisitors.

Though the Burning Times
were started by religion, it was obvious that science, still in its
infancy, was to become important to the Mundane. The Magickal world
could see that when those without magick turned to science, they
would turn further against us. We could see the end of our world
approaching.

So it was that we finally
agreed to leave the world of men. We could only pray this would
bring an end to the burning.

We gathered together;
undines, sylphs, salamanders and gnomes, fairies, elves, ogres and
dragons, pixies, giants, wizards and witches, along with many
others. Even creatures with long histories of enmity would work
together, this one time. We agreed to create a world that would
exist outside the space and time of men.

There we could be safe
from humankind.

Our alliance continued to
be exceedingly fragile, and deciding upon the name of our new land
almost destroyed it before it began. After furious arguments
punctuated by curses and spells, it was decided our realm would be
known as Chimera. Most accepted one meaning: “A creation of
imagination, especially a wild creation.” The other meaning, “A
monster made of many parts,” was ignored. I sometimes wonder if I
am the only one who has thought it the more appropriate
description.

We all knew our truce
could not last. Our history has proven that, over and over. It is
simply not in the nature of many of our kind to get along. There
were some who believed this new land would prove too small for the
hundreds of us to co-exist. Despite this, we succeeded in creating
Chimera; ripping land from its place in Europe, transporting it to
the other end of the earth, to the far western edge of the New
World. There we joined together and created an extraordinary spell
that moved Chimera beyond the confines of normal time and
space.

Creating the gates to
reach our new home was draining, but we were triumphant. With few
entrances, each confined with layers of protection, we would be
safe from non-magickal intrusions. There is only one rule: Protect
the existence of Chimera, whatever the cost. To ensure this, travel
between Chimera and the Mundane world is restricted.

This has grown easier as
time has passed.

As more creatures and
users of magick moved to Chimera, magick stopped functioning
properly in the Mundane world. It faded in the minds of men from a
terrifying reality to myth, from myth to legend, and from legend to
bedtime stories told to frighten young children. Knowledge of our
existence was lost, and those in Chimera were safe.

Some of our kind chose not
to leave the Mundane world. There are still vampires in Italy and
the Americas, shapeshifters in the New World, and a few wizarding
families in Europe.

To guard our hard-won
home, we who left the Mundane world would have no contact with any
who decided to remain outside. Most of us believe, after all this
time, that those who stayed behind no longer remember our
existence.

There are no stories of
this place.

Our alliance has indeed
been broken, but on this one thing we are still in agreement. To
protect our creation, it must never be mentioned to any in the
Mundane world. And any who learn of our existence must forever
become a part of Chimera.

Chapter 8

Why is
She
Here?

Mornings were another way
things were changing. Before this year, the three of us had risen
early, out riding bikes or chatting on-line by 8:00 am. But for
several months now, I’d noticed Olivia sleeping in later and
later.

At first I kept waiting
for things to return to normal. But lately, I’d begun to realize it
wasn’t going back the way it had been. To be fair, it wasn’t just
Olivia. At school, it was like some strange sleep virus was
infecting everyone in 7
^th
grade. I really liked
mornings, so it had better not infect me!

I’d complained to Mom about
Olivia sleeping late, but she just said sleeping in was normal for
teenagers. “Have you forgotten when your brother was your
age?”

I had forgotten. Who’d want
to remember that? Chris had been a total slug. My parents had to
knock on his door, yelling at him to get up every morning. Dad even
had to go in and pull the covers off the bed. Once Dad got so
impatient he poured a glass of ice water on his head. That got
Chris up.

Note to self — Don’t
become a teenage slug!

Maybe this morning I should
have slept in. Every time I tried to imagine who would meet us at
Johnny’s, my stomach started flipping around like something was
doing gymnastics in there.

It was ten minutes before
8:00 am when the three of us met on our corner.

“
Let’s go.” Faith turned
to lead the way. I noticed her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks
were flushed. Knowing Faith, she was excited to learn about that
strange place.

Olivia’s greeting was a
grumbled complaint. “I can’t believe we’ve got to be at Johnny’s so
early. To meet someone we don’t even know.”

“
Come on, Olivia, aren’t
you excited? We’re going to find who sent those pages and what they
know about that strange place.”

“
No, Faith. I’m too tired
to care right now. You be excited for both of us.”

Olivia really must be
tired. Her hair was hanging limp around her face and she hadn’t
slathered on lip-gloss or eye shadow after getting out of sight of
her house.

Faith raised her eyebrows,
and the corners of her mouth turned down. “Aren’t you the least bit
interested?”

“
I’m here, aren’t I? This
time of day, that’s a high level of interest.”

I sighed, feeling suddenly
tired as
Faith and Olivia bickered at each
other, and I increased my pace. That effort didn’t last long. Faith
grabbed my arm and said, “Kat, what do you think about that place,
Chimera?”

Olivia mumbled, “What place
called Chimera?”

“
From those pages last
night. I think that’s the place we fell into yesterday.
Chimera.”

I felt a chill chase its
way down my back. “I hope you’re wrong. Remember,
‘Any who learn of our existence must forever
become a part of Chimera
?’”

Faith shook her head. “I’m
not worried, ‘cause I think it was just Andrew. You know, trying to
freak us out.”

I looked at Faith in
disbelief. “No way did
Andrew
send us to that place!”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “It
can’t be anyone we know. No one in town could do that.”

“
But a stranger wouldn’t
know where Kat lives!” Faith stopped, her hands fisted on her hips,
glaring at Olivia.

“
Fine, then let’s
hear
your
great
idea.”

“
How should
I
know? That’s why I
asked you.”

“
Maybe it was a ghost. Or
little green men from Mars. Or Bigfoot.” Olivia was smirking. We
all knew Faith didn’t believe in such things.

Faith rolled her eyes, and
said, “Are those my only choices? How ‘bout the tooth
fairy?”

Olivia laughed, then Faith
and I joined in. For a moment, it felt
like it always had been.

Then Olivia groaned. “It’s
Saturday, one of the only days I can sleep in. Let’s get this over
with, and maybe I’ll still have time to go back to bed.”



Johnny’s Burger Shack was a
favorite hangout for those of us in middle school. There were no
fast food places in town. One had finally been built a couple miles
away, down off Highway 101, but people in town preferred Johnny’s.
Everyone said his cheeseburgers were the best in a hundred miles.
Johnny liked that so much, he’d painted it on the wall outside the
restaurant.