The Book of Shadows by Ruth Hatfield

Author:Ruth Hatfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

CHAPTER 14

THE FIRST SHADOW

They gathered around the book and watched it expectantly, but it was still nothing more than a few scraps of paper.

“What do we do now?” asked Danny. “We’ve made it. It’s got all our hopes in it. Do I just write, and things come true?”

“Remember the story,” said Barshin. “We need to take it back to the place where it all began: the shadow that Xur threw Mab’s world into. Only then will it come alive.”

“But how are we supposed to find that? It must have disappeared thousands of years ago. Millions of years ago.”

“Ah, but this is a new book. And shadows move.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Stop being cryptic. If you want to tell me something, just say it in words I’ll understand. We haven’t got much time.”

“Yeah,” said Cath. “Don’t leave it to him to work out. We’ll be here till the sun turns into a Christmas tree.”

Barshin let their comments fly away into silence. “Well, Cath was right—stories are stories, not the truth. But even so, there’s usually some truth lurking somewhere. In the story of Mab and Xur, there’s a moment when the world could have become one thing and instead became another. Without knowing anything about where Mab and Xur stood, we can still know that our own lives are full of such moments. Mine is. Yours is. And you made this Book of Shadows. There must have been a moment when something huge happened to you, which shaped your entire life. I’d think that is the place you need to find. Where did your road fork?”

“Well, it does that all the time,” said Danny. “Every time I do anything, I could always have done something else, couldn’t I?”

“I’m not talking about the small things,” said Barshin. “I mean the ones that completely shape your life.”

Danny ran through what he could remember of his entire life in his head. He didn’t remember anything from the first three years. What if something had happened then that no one had told him about? He’d never know where his road had forked in the time that he couldn’t remember.

“Come on, get on with it,” said Cath. “We’ve got to go.”

She coughed, a harsh wheeze of breath rattling at her chest.

“Why?” For a second Danny let himself be distracted.

“They’ll come back. They are coming back. I can feel it.”

Danny didn’t question this. She was so gray now that she could probably hear all the clouds, wherever they were.

He stood in the doorway of the boat shed. Shimny was still in the same position: head down, nose grazing the sand. Shimny, who’d raced along a hilltop, who’d fallen down a quarry side with him, standing in hopeless despair. She’d probably been like that all through the storm.

Storms. Trees waving wildly in the gale. Trees falling.

Trees being struck by lightning. Breaking, cleaving in two, right down to the smoking earth.

Trees dying.

People dying.

Children dying, and other children being born. To replace them.

Of course. Emma. He couldn’t remember the accident,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.