Secrets in the Dark

by KD Blakely

  Then Ray bellowed, “Get away from me,” and aimed a kick at the huge black rat, nearly the same size as Shadow, trying to climb up his leg.

  “They don’t know anything about the animals,” Olivia breathed, grinning.

  “And we’re not going to tell them," I said, a wave of satisfaction warming me from the inside out.

  “What’s Polly’s name?” Doug asked slowly, watching the cute pink pig that had started wandering up and down the side of the road, looking at Polly.

  “I know that one, too,” Faith said. “Polly Isabelle Grant. She’s not nice at all. She belongs with Ray and Andrew.”

  We were too far away to hear what was being said when they weren’t yelling. When Polly saw the pig, she reached out toward it. Before she could touch it, Ray grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

  Just when I thought it couldn’t get any stranger, I noticed the last animal. All of us watched, transfixed, as the small donkey headed straight for Andrew.

  “Oh man, he’s not gonna like that,” Doug said.

  That was an understatement. He’d taken a lot of teasing about his name before he buddied up with Ray.

  “What were his parents thinking?” Olivia asked. “I mean, Andrew Steven Sawyer!”

  “I think a rat and a donkey are just perfect,” Faith said, grinning. I had to use both hands over my mouth to stifle my laughter.

  “Oh no!” Olivia bit her lip and held out her hand toward Pyg as, with a soft hoot, the small owl took off from her shoulder and flew off toward Ray and the others.

  “Come back,” she called in a small voice.

  The same trees that provided us cover from the Rejects meant we couldn’t see exactly what happened. But the sudden exclamations of anger from both Ray and Andrew were loud enough we could hear every word.

  “Where did that stupid bird come from,” Andrew yelled. “I got bird poop on my head.”

  “So what! It’s on my face,” Ray screamed back, frantically wiping at his mouth. “If I ever see that stupid bird again, it’s dead!”

  A faint flutter of wings was all that announced the return of the owl. It landed on Olivia’s shoulder, then hooted happily.

  Faith said admiringly, “You’re a smart bird! You remembered.”

  “Remembered what?” I asked.

  Olivia answered, “I said it wouldn’t poop on my friends, but I wished it would poop on the Rejects. And I was right. I’m totally glad I got to see that.”

  We watched as Ray and the others walked away from their animals — straight toward us.

  “We need to get out of here,” Faith said. “And we can’t lead them to the cave!”

  “You’re right! Let’s go,” Olivia said, grabbing Faith’s hand.

  We moved quickly, looking for a place to hide. If necessary, I knew we could leave the road and hide in the woods, but there was a wide field we’d need to cross, and the woods looked too dark and cold and overgrown with thick brush. Like a real live Fangorn forest. I was beginning to worry when I heard Ray give a shout.

  “They found the cabin,” Doug said, sounding relieved. “Maybe that’ll keep them busy.”

  “How’re we gonna keep away from them? They know where this place is now." Faith sounded scared. “I don’t want to play hide and seek with them in a cave!”

  I swallowed. “We can’t risk leading them to Ghalynn. I don’t think he’ll help us if the Rejects do something nasty.”

  “Don’t worry Faith, next time we’ll make a plan to keep away from them before we even come in.” Doug’s jaw was set with determination.

  “So, how much farther is the cave?” Faith asked.

  “I don’t know,” I told her, peering at the map. “An hour, maybe?”

  Faith said hesitantly, “We could get closer — so we know where it is. For next time.”

  “Might as well. We can’t go back while they’re behind us.”

  We followed the path drawn on the map, frequently checking behind us. When we didn’t see the others, we began to relax. Finally, we came to a bend in the road and saw the beginnings of the mountains in the distance.

  “Oh look,” Olivia said, pointing into the field to the left. The entire field looked like it was moving in gentle mystifying undulations.

  How could everything be moving so different?

  The grass was moving in odd swirls and ripples, sometimes in many different ways at the same time. The rocks were moving too. They swayed side to side, but in different rhythms and directions. A few large plants, the size of small trees, with huge heart-shaped red leaves appeared to be moving up and down, like they were on opposite ends of a teeter-totter.

  It was like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Everything in the field appeared to be dancing to a strange and haunting tune. But with all that movement, there was not a single sound.

  I kept forgetting how freaky things could be in here. The sight was…mesmerizing.

  “Let’s stop and watch,” Faith said in a dreamy voice.

  Doug agreed, sounding almost stupefied by the sight. All of us settled down to watch the strange field. Rusty barked at Doug a couple times, then began to chase a stick.

  I smiled lazily when Shadow got tired of trying to get me to pet her. She started batting her paws at a leaf at the end of a thin branch.

  The fox finally allowed Faith to pet it, absently, while she stared at the moving field.

  The tiny owl nestled contentedly on Olivia’s shoulder, occasionally hooting with pleasure as she carelessly stroked the feathers on its chest.

  I thought idly how different the field looked than anything at home. And that thought made me uncomfortable. Home. How long had we been here? I said, “I think we need to go if we plan to be home by dinner.” I suddenly couldn’t understand why we’d been sitting there so long. And it had been a long time. I felt stiff and sore as I climbed to my feet.

  Doug whipped his head around to look at me, eyes wide. “Sorry, boy,” he said as he stood up, moving slow. “We’ve got to go.” The dog’s ears and tail came up and it quickly turned to face the way we’d come.

  The others looked like they were waking from a long sleep as they climbed to their feet. No one said anything as we turned to leave. Apparently, no one else felt like talking about what had kept us there so long either.

  It felt way too freaky.

  Note to self — Don’t stare at moving rocks!

  

  I guessed we’d been gone at least three hours, Santa Ramona time, and would need at least two more to get back. I could only hope we wouldn’t run into the Rejects.

  We made good time on the way back. When we got near the cabin, I began to breathe easier. It was silent. Too silent for Ray and the others to still be there.

  “I want to check it out,” I said, and took the short path to the cabin. I peered inside and gasped. Anger swelled inside me like a huge balloon. I had a momentary picture in my head of something actually bursting, like when a balloon gets too full of air.

  The Rejects had left a trail of destruction in the cabin. Some of the kitchen cupboards were empty — their contents thrown all over. Most of the cups and plates were broken, and the shattered bits glimmered across the wooden floor.

  Faith whispered, “They’re out of control. They think they can do anything they want in here.”

  “Ronny’s going to be pissed!” I heard Olivia’s quick sound of protest. Darn, I’d cussed. “Sorry Olivia.” My hands balled into fists. Not only were the Rejects coming in here now, they were destroying things that belong to Ronny’s friends. “I just wish I didn’t have to tell Ronny about this.”

  “You wished!” Faith said, looking around.

  I sucked in a breath, waiting for some sign that my wish had worked. Nothing happened. I let my breath out in a sigh. We didn’t fall through a tree, get hit by strange winds, have animals appear, or anything even a bit unusual. “I guess there’s no spell for that.”

  Note to self – Figure how this wishing stuff works
!

  While we checked through the cabin, the dog sniffed around, periodically growling low in its throat.

  “Rusty sounds as upset as we are,” Olivia said. “I don’t think he likes the Rejects.”

  I laughed. “I love our animals. They have good taste!”

  I was a bit reluctant as we made our way back to the tree. I was in no hurry to tell Ronny what happened. We each took a moment to say goodbye to our animals. Shadow got an extra-long goodbye. I was trying to postpone going back, and Shadow didn’t seem to mind the extra attention. Reluctantly, I took my turn through the tree.

  As we emerged into the cemetery, Olivia exclaimed, “Oh no! It’s dark. I’m supposed to be home before dark.”

  It was hard to be careful and fast as we made our way through the cemetery. I kept worrying that we would bump into the Rejects. Even though we hurried back home, we weren’t fast enough. Faith texted that we’d have to wait another week to meet with Ronny, at least for her to be there. She’d been grounded for being late.

  Both Faith and Olivia had curfews earlier than mine. The next day at school, I asked Olivia how she’d managed to avoid being grounded.

  “I told Mom we were helping your sister-in-law,” she said, looking smug. “She thought we were at Ronny’s house.”

  “You lied? What if she checks with Ronny?” I asked.

  “She won’t. And I didn’t lie to her. We are helping Ronny. Maybe I didn’t tell Mom where. But it is the truth — we’re helping Ronny!”

  Somehow, I didn’t think her mom would see it that way, but I wasn’t going to argue. Olivia had assured us more than once that everything she said would be the truth. She just wouldn’t promise it would always be the whole truth.

  Faith kept telling her it didn’t count as truth if you left out whole bits of it, but Olivia didn’t see it that way. I just hoped Olivia’s mom never found out. I had a feeling Olivia would be grounded for a lot more than a week.

  

  Waiting for Faith to be un-grounded seemed really long. When Saturday morning finally got there, we hurried to Johnny’s. I worried the whole way there. I was going to hate telling Ronny about the Rejects entering Chimera and messing up Ghalynn’s cabin.

  For once, I really wished I’d been wrong. Ronny was really upset. I’d never seen her like that, like flames were going to shoot out of her eyes. Maybe my face showed how uncomfortable I was, but I was glad when she said she wasn’t angry with us. I never wanted anyone that angry with me!

  “Promise you will be careful around those other children.” She said this through clenched teeth, making it harder than ever to understand her. “And please, do not lead them to the cave or to Ghalynn. I do not know if he will be willing to help if he knows human children destroyed his belongings. It is as you say, ‘when the cat’s away, the mice will eat your cheese’.”

  First Faith then Olivia started giggling. Doug had a hard time controlling his voice as he told her, “It’s ‘when the cat’s away, the mice will play’.”

  “Oh, then that saying will not work, will it. They were not playing.”

  “It works fine,” I told her. “It’s not supposed to mean playing in a good way. It means doing things that aren’t right because no one’s watching.”

  “Thank you. I will remember. And you keep away from those children.”

  We assured her we had no intention of getting anywhere near the Rejects. I told her, “Listen, there’s a story about a witch buried in our graveyard. Kids have been looking for her grave for years. Supposedly, if someone finds her magic book, they’ll be able to do magic. Does that have something to do with Chimera?”

  The sound of Ronny’s laughter filled the diner. There was a moment of silence as people around us paused their conversations to listen. It was a joyous musical sound. Her face brightened as she laughed and she looked more like her normal self.

  Between fits of laughter she said, “That is our legend. One of my mother’s sisters — I guess she was my middle aunt — went missing over three hundred years ago. It is rumored she died, or perhaps was murdered, and buried near the entrance to Chimera. In what is now your cemetery.”

  Ronny’s voice took on a storytelling cadence as she continued, “She was a powerful witch, whose book of spells was extensive. Everyone in Chimera would like to find that book. It would be of great value to any magick user.”

  My interest was all over my face. Ronny smiled at me, but it felt more like a pat on my head than a real smile. “If a Mundane were to find the book, it would do no good for them. Only a magick user would be able to use her spells.”

  I felt a twinge of disappointment. Not that I’d really believed I would find it. But I’d loved the idea that if I did, I could become a powerful magic user. That thought was even more appealing now. Maybe there’d’ve been something in that book to stop the Rejects.

  As we got ready to leave, Ronny hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear, “It is very important that you get to the cave and find what Ghalynn meant in his note. But it is even more important that you stay safe. Please take care of yourself, I do not want you hurt on my behalf.”

  Chapter 18

  Where’s GPS When You Need It?

  All during April, I got nervous whenever I thought about getting into Chimera unseen. We planned to meet at Johnny’s before we went to the cemetery. Doug was sure we’d be able to come up with something. I didn’t have his confidence, and had been getting butterflies in my stomach whenever I thought about it.

  The Saturday of the full moon, once I got to Johnny’s, I was so nervous I only ordered a couple pieces of toast. None of us said much at first. The others didn’t seem to have trouble with their appetite, but the more toast I ate, the heavier it felt in my stomach. I finally resorted to breaking off bits and rolling the pieces between my fingers, turning them into little toast pellets.

  I looked at the growing mound of squashed brown pellets and sighed. It was stupid to be mutilating an innocent piece of toast. I tossed it on my plate and said, “You know, Andrew’s been spending a lot of time at his dad’s garage. It gives him a really good view of the cemetery. We should take the back exit. We could cut behind City Hall and enter the cemetery from the side road.”

  “That could work,” Doug said, sounding surprised.

  Like it’s a surprise I could come up with a good idea.

  Faith drummed her fingers on the table. Olivia and I shared a quick glance. Faith only did that when she was really nervous. Like the time she had to give an oral book report on the teacher’s favorite book. The same book Faith thought was so boring she hadn’t been able to finish it. Now she said, “Do you really think we can get in without them following us?”

  “Well,” Olivia put down her fork, then carefully blotted her lips. “Even if they don’t follow us, they could still get inside Chimera while we’re in there.” She dug in her bag for her favorite lip-gloss and said, “What do we do then?”

  She didn’t give us a chance to answer. “We have to decide what to do if, when, we see them in there.” Olivia twisted her head from side to side, trying to look at her lips in the back of her spoon.

  Doug had been watching Olivia go through this beauty ritual like he was wondering what planet she was on.

  Nice to know I’m not the only one.

  He shook his head and pulled out his copy of the map. “According to this, there’s a couple small roads on the right. If we notice them following, we should take one of those side roads, then cut back across the fields to lose them.”

  “That sounds good. I guess,” Faith gave a twisted smile, clearly doubtful.

  He grinned at her. “It’ll work. You’ll see.”

  We left out the back, making our way behind City Hall and the fire station. At first, we thought our plan was working. We didn’t realize we were being followed until we got near the cemetery.

  This time Faith recognized the feeling of being watched. “Ugh! How do they know when to follow us? Don’t they have
anything better to do?” I watched as she absent-mindedly slipped her left hand into her pocket.

  Just one hand this time. Was only half of her nervous?

  “We’re gonna have to implement our strategy,” Doug said, as we hurried into the cemetery and headed for the tree.

  Olivia asked, “Did we ever decide which road to take?” When I shook my head, she said, “Two’s my favorite number — let’s take the second road.”

  I said, “I’m not sure how to do this. First, we need them to follow us off the main road. That means we have to let them see us. Then we have to sneak back through a field. That means we can’t let them see us. That makes my head hurt.”

  “Simple, we wait until they follow us, run ahead, then cut through the field when they can’t see us. They won’t know where we’ve gone.” Doug’s voice positively oozed satisfaction.

  Faiths didn’t. “I just hope we don’t get lost!”

  Olivia sounded cross as she leaned against the massive tree, “Don’t jinx us!”

  

  Once again, I hated those few moments of darkness. In fact, I hated them a little more each time. I really didn’t want to fall on my face like Olivia had last time, and leaned back as I stumbled out. Only it was too far back. I ended on my butt.

  I gritted my teeth when Olivia and Doug burst out laughing. I was half-tempted to wish something not very nice. Before I could either make a wish or get up, Shadow ran up and jumped in my lap. So, maybe I shouldn’t be upset after all.

  I climbed to my feet, Shadow in my arms, and we all took a moment for a short reunion with our familiars. Then I told Shadow we needed to head out. As we started walking, I kept a close watch on the side of the road, looking for Olivia’s second road to the right. For a moment, I thought of Peter Pan — second star to the right and straight on till morning.

  Straight on till morning would not be good in here!

  Faith had been in enough trouble coming home thirty minutes late. Being here until morning would be a total disaster for all of us.

  On the map, the second road turned away from the mountains and the cave. Away from Ghalynn. And with any luck, this plan would keep the Rejects away from us.