by Holly Black
Her whole body began to tremble.
The images came faster then, more disjointed. A girl in a colorless gown, urged on by hunters, lures the unicorn closer. One stray arrow knocks her to the ground. She falls, pale arm slung over pale flank. Both are still. Then hundreds of gory horns, shaped into goblets, crushed into charms and powders. White pelts streaked with blood, stacked in a pile buzzing with black flies.
Jared pulled free of the dream, his stomach heaving. To his surprise Mallory was crying, her tears darkening the white fur. Simon put an awkward hand on the unicorn’s side.
The unicorn tipped its head forward, nuzzling Mallory’s hair with its lips.
“It really likes you,” Simon said. He looked a little annoyed. Animals usually liked him best.
Mallory shrugged. “I’m a girl.”
“We know what you saw,” the leaf-horned elf said. “Give us the Guide. It must be destroyed.”
“What about the goblins?” demanded Jared.
“What of them? The goblins love your world,” said Lorengorm. “Your machines and poisons have made a haven for their kind.”
“You seemed fine with using them to try to take the book from us,” Jared said.
“We?” asked the green-eyed elf, her eyes wide and her mouth hard. “You think that we would send such sentries? It is Mulgarath that commands them.”
“Who is Mulgarath?” Mallory stood up, still petting the unicorn absently.
“An ogre,” said Lorengorm. “He has been gathering goblins to him and making pacts with dwarves. We think he wants Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide for himself.”
“Why?” Jared asked. “Don’t you know everything that’s inside it?”
The elves exchanged uncomfortable glances. Finally the leaf-horned elf spoke. “We make art. We do not feel the need to cut things apart to see what they’re made of. What Arthur Spiderwick did, none of our kind would do.”
The green-eyed elf put a hand on the other elf’s shoulder. “What he means is that there may be things in the Guide that we do not know.”
Jared thought for a moment. “So you don’t really care about humans getting Arthur’s field guide. You just don’t want Mulgarath to have it!”
“The book is dangerous in anyone’s hands,” said the green-eyed elf. “There is too much knowledge therein. Give it over to us. It will be destroyed and you will be rewarded.”
Jared held out his hands. “We don’t have it,” he said. “We couldn’t give it to you if we wanted to.”
The leaf-horned elf shook his head and slammed the butt of his staff. “You lie!”
“We really don’t have it,” said Mallory. “Honest.”
Lorengorm raised a single, red brow. “Then where is it?”
“We think the house brownie has it,” Simon put in. “But we’re not sure.”
“You lost it?” The green-eyed elf gasped.
“Thimbletack probably has it,” Jared said in a small voice.
“We have tried to be reasonable,” said the leaf-horned elf. “Humans are faithless.”
“Faithless?” Jared repeated. “How do we know we can trust you?” He snatched the map from Simon and held it up for the elves to see. “We found this. It was Arthur’s. It looks like he came here and I guess he met you. I want to know what you did with him.”
“We spoke with Arthur,” said the leaf-horned elf. “He thought to trick us. He had sworn he would destroy the Guide, and he came to our meeting with a bag of blackened paper and ashes. But he lied. He had burned another book. The Guide remained unharmed.”
“We honor our word,” said the green-eyed elf. “Though it be bitter, we fulfill our pledges. We have no sympathy for those who would deceive us.”
“What did you do?” asked Jared.
“We kept him from doing further harm,” said the green-eyed elf.
“Now you have come,” said the leaf-horned elf. “And you will bring us the Guide.”
Lorengorm waved his hand, and pale roots crept from the ground. Jared cried out, but his voice was lost in the creaking of branches and shuffling of leaves. The trees were untwining, their limbs moving back into natural shapes. But dirty, hairy roots climbed Jared’s legs and held him.
“Bring us the Guide or your brother will remain trapped forever in Faerie,” said the leaf-horned elf.
Jared had no doubt that he meant it.
“Jared, help!” Jared called.
Chapter Seven
IN WHICH Jared Is Finally Pleased to Have a Twin
Mallory leapt forward, brandishing her rapier. Simon held his net in awkward imitation. The unicorn shook its head, mane flying as it galloped noiselessly into the depths of the forest.
“Oh ho!” said the leaf-horned elf. “Now we see the true character of humans!”
“Let my brother go!” Mallory yelled.
Jared suddenly had an idea.
“Jared, help!” Jared called, hoping that Simon and Mallory would get the hint.
Simon just looked at him in confusion.
“Jared,” said Jared, “you have to help me.”
Then Simon smiled at him, his eyes lighting up with understanding. “Simon, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Jared.” Jared pulled his leg against the grip of the roots with all his might. “But I can’t move.”
“We’ll come back with the Guide, Simon,” Simon said, “and then they’ll have to let you go.”
“No,” said Jared. “If you come back, they might keep us all hostage. Make them promise!”
“Our word is our bond,” sniffed the green-eyed elf.
“You didn’t give us your word,” Mallory said, looking at her brothers with growing alarm.
“Promise that Jared and Mallory can leave the grove safely and that if they return, they will not be held against their will,” said Jared.
Mallory looked ready to protest, but she remained silent.
The elves looked at the siblings with some hesitation. Finally Lorengorm nodded. “Let it be so. Jared and Mallory may go from this grove. They will not be held here against their will now or later. Should they not bring the Guide, we will keep their brother, Simon, for all time. He will remain with us, ageless, beneath the hill, for a hundred times a hundred years—and should he ever leave, one step on the ground will bring all the missing years on to him at once.”
The real Simon shivered and took a step closer to Mallory.
“Go swiftly,” said the elf.
Mallory looked searchingly at Jared. The tip of her rapier had dipped, but she was still holding it in front of her and she made no move to leave the grove. Jared tried to smile encouragingly, but he was scared and he knew it showed on his face.
They turned and looked back at him.
Shaking her head, Mallory followed Simon. After a few paces they turned and looked back at him, then started climbing the steep hill. In a few minutes they were obscured by leaves. Jared spoke.
“You have to let me go,” he said.
“And why is that?” asked the leaf-horned elf. “You have heard our promise. We will not release you until your brother and sister have brought us the Guide.”
Jared shook his head. “You said you wouldn’t release Simon. I’m Jared.”
“What?” demanded Lorengorm.
The leaf-horned elf took a step toward Jared, his hands curled like claws.
Jared swallowed hard. “Your word is your bond. You have to let me go.”
“Prove yourself, child,” said the green-eyed elf. Her lips pressed in a thin line.
“Here.” Jared shrugged off his backpack into his trembling hands. There, along the top, three letters were monogrammed into the red canvas: JEG. “See. Jared Evan Grace.”
“Go,” said the leaf-horned elf, speaking the word as though it were a curse. “Much may your freedom please you if we come upon you or your false-hearted siblings again.”
With that, the roots untwined from Jared’s legs. He ran from the grove as fast as he could. He
did not look back.
As he reached the top of the hill, he heard laughter.
He looked up into the nearby trees, but there was no sign of the phooka. Still, Jared was only half surprised when its now-familiar voice spoke. “I see you didn’t find your uncle. A pity. Were you a little less clever, perhaps you’d have had more success.”
Jared shuddered and rushed down the other side of the hill, fast enough that he was barely able to stop from running out into the middle of the road. He crossed the street and ran through the iron gates into his own front-yard, panting.
He heard laughter.
Mallory and Simon were waiting for him on the steps. His sister said nothing but embraced him in a very un-Mallory-like fashion. He let himself be hugged.
“I had no idea what you were going to do,” said Simon with a laugh. “That was a great trick.”
“Thanks for going along with it,” Jared said with a grin. “The phooka said something to me on the way back.”
“Anything that made any sense?” Mallory asked.
“Well, I was thinking,” said Jared. “Remember how the elves said they’d keep me in Faerie?”
“Keep you?” asked Simon. “They said Simon.”
“Yeah, but think of what they were going to do. They were going to keep me there forever. Ageless, remember? Forever.”
“So you think . . .” Mallory’s voice trailed off.
“When I was leaving, the phooka said that if I’d been less clever, I might have had more success finding my uncle.”
“You mean Arthur could be trapped with the elves?” asked Simon as they trudged up the steps to the house.
“I think so,” Jared said.
“Then he’s still alive,” Mallory said.
Jared opened the back door and stepped into the mudroom. He was still shaking from his encounter with the elves, but the smile on his face grew. Maybe Arthur hadn’t run out on his family. Maybe he was a prisoner of the elves. And maybe—if Jared was clever enough—Arthur could even be saved.
Daydreaming about rescue, he barely noticed the glimmer of silver at his feet before he fell. Something sharp pressed into Jared’s thigh and outstretched hand. Simon tripped too, crashing onto Jared, and Mallory, only a couple of steps behind, went down on top of them both.
“Crap!” yelled Jared, looking around. The floor was littered with jacks and marbles.
“Ow,” said Simon, trying to squirm out from under his sister. “Get off me, Mal.”
“Ow yourself,” Mallory said, pushing herself to her feet. “I’m gonna kill that little boggart.” She paused. “You know what, Jared? If we find Arthur’s field guide, I say we keep it.”
Jared looked back at her. “You do?”
She nodded. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m tired of being bossed around by faeries.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Tony and Holly would like to thank
Steve and Dianna for their insight,
Starr for her honesty,
Myles and Liza for sharing the journey,
Ellen and Julie for helping make this our reality,
Kevin for his tireless enthusiasm and faith in us,
and especially Angela and Theo—
there are not enough superlatives
to describe your patience
in enduring endless nights
of Spiderwick discussion.
The text type for this book is set in Cochin.
The display types are set in Nevins Hand and Rackham.
The illustrations are rendered in pen and ink.
Production editor: Dorothy Gribbin
Art director: Dan Potash
Production manager: Chava Wolin
About TONY DiTERLIZZI . . .
A New York Times bestselling authorand illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi has been creating books with Simon and Schuster for over a decade. From fanciful picture books such as Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure, The Spider & The Fly (a Caldecott Honor book), and those in the Adventure of Meno series (with his wife, Angela) to middle-grade fiction like Kenny and the Dragon and The Search for WondLa, Tony has always imbued his stories with a rich imagination. His middle-grade series the Spiderwick Chronicles (with Holly Black) has sold millions of copies, been adapted into a feature film, and been translated in over thirty countries. You can visit him at www.diterlizzi.com.
and HOLLY BLACK
Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. She is the co-creator and writer of the Spiderwick Chronicles and the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series, the Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy (with Ted Naifeh), the Curse Workers series, and her newest novel, Doll Bones. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award, a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. She currently lives in New England with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret door. You can visit her at www.blackholly.com.
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Also available in a Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition
Book design by Tony DiTerlizzi and Dan Potash
First Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers paperback edition May 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Black, Holly.
Lucinda’s secret / Holly Black ; [illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi]—1st ed.
p. cm. — (Spiderwick chronicles ; bk. 3)
Sequel to: The seeing stone.
Summary: With goblins, trolls, and the house boggart all trying to get them, the Grace children turn to Great-Aunt Lucinda for help.
[1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Great-aunts—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction.] I. DiTerlizzi, Tony, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.B52878 Lu 2003
[Fic]—dc21
2003008849
ISBN 978-1-4424-8700-0 (jacketed hc)
ISBN 978-1-4424-8697-3 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4424-9621-7 (eBook)
