Secrets in the Dark by KD Blakely

told
her, “We need to know what you want us to do. We looked around
Chimera for an hour yesterday. We never saw anyone, so we couldn’t
ask about your mom.”
    Ronny’s eyes widened and
all the color drained from her face. Her voice sounded strangled.
“That is impossible! You must have seen someone. There are always
people there.”
    I shook my head. “There
was nothing for a long time. No people, no
animals, no birds. I didn’t even see a bug.”
    “ You did not see any
living thing?”
    “ Before we left we did see
four animals. A cat came over to me. An owl landed on Olivia’s
shoulder. A fox followed Faith around, but seemed too nervous to
get very close. And a Jack Russell kept jumping all over Doug.
Other than those, we never saw anything. Except trees and grass of
course.”
    “ A black cat I understand,
and an owl does not surprise me, but there are no foxes in Chimera.
And I don’t know anyone named Jack Russell.”
    “ Oh no,” I said quickly as
a surprised laugh escaped Olivia. “A Jack Russell is a dog. And the
cat wasn’t black. It was Siamese. My
favorite!”
    “ This is not right. There
are no Siamese cats there,” Ronny insisted. “And no cat in Chimera
would come up to a stranger! They stick to their own witch or
wizard.”
    The four of us started
speaking at once, describing how the animals appeared, our voices
coming out in a jumble. Ronny’s face creased in confusion, then she
shook her head. “I do not know what to think. Nothing you say makes
sense. Please — start from the beginning.”
    She held up her hand as we
started to speak again. “One at a time. Please.”
    I blurted out, “We went
through the tree onto a dirt road. After a while, the road split,
one part disappeared to the right behind some hills.
The—“
    Ronny interrupted, “You are
speaking too fast, Kat. Slow and steady wins with
grace.”
    I stared at her for a
moment, trying to figure out what she meant. Faith muttered, “Slow
and steady wins the race.”
    Wow, no wonder Chris
has to correct her all the
time.
    I grinned and continued,
speaking slower. “The main path curved to the left. We went that
way. We passed a field covered with strange flowers. On the left,
there were giant apple trees. That’s—”
    Doug was the one who
interrupted this time. “So, we were arguing about that. It’s okay
to eat the apples, right?”
    Ronny looked at him,
startled. “No, they are not safe. We call them Sleeping Beauty
apples, and they are poison. My aunt thought it was funny to put a
sleep spell on them, like your story of Snow White. No one
has been able to reverse the
spell.”
    I glanced at Doug, who was
looking a little green. Good thing he got interrupted.
    Ronny propped her chin on
her hand. “You were definitely on the Mountain Road, but you say no
one was there. I do not understand what can be
happening.”
    Doug opened his mouth to
speak, but Ronny held up her hand. “I think…I think you should go
see Ghalynn. He is an elf who lives away from most of us. He and I
are friends, of a sort, and I believe he will agree to help
you.”
    I would have felt better if
Ronny had looked, or at least sounded, a bit more
certain.
    “ Is he a nice elf?” Faith
asked timidly, her voice higher than normal. “I’ve heard there are
nice elves and dark elves. What kind is Ghalynn?”
    Ronny’s laughter rang
through the room. When heads began turning in our direction, she
stifled her amusement and lowered her voice. “Nice is not the word
I would use. Irritating, frustrating, rude and short-tempered would
be closer. But he is not a dark elf. Set your mind to ease on that.
I am sure he will help, once you get him to listen.”
    She pulled a piece of paper
and a pencil out of her purse. “I will draw a map to his cabin, and
give you an introduction.”
    “ I guess that means we’re
going back.” Faith’s shoulders slumped as we watched Ronny quickly sketch Chimera. I recognized the
tree and the road leading away