Secrets in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

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