Secrets: The Hero Chronicles (Volume 1) Read Online Free Page A

and the people who will live here. Please guide us, and may we have safe travels to our new home.” She squeezed my hand and just like that, we were off. I always wanted to ask her why she prayed the same prayer, but I figured it was something between her and God.
    We were leaving town right as the sun rose. The truck bounced every time it hit a crack. The constant jarring reminded me of how my mom used to rock me and sing to me before bed when I was small. I reclined my seat, put my feet up on the dash, and let the truck rock me to sleep.
    I was suddenly surrounded by darkness, the same darkness that haunted all my dreams. It was a suffocating, never-ending pressure that covered my entire body, not allowing me to move. I was paralyzed as usual, but this time it was different. The darkness was the same suffocating pressure, but it was like a black smoke surrounding me, not the usual nothingness. I sucked the thick putrid smoke into my lungs. My muscles tensed to fight against it, to expel it out of my lungs. During my struggle, I could feel each muscle in my body pushing against the darkness, and there was a bitter acidic taste in the back of my throat. My lungs seized, and I spit the putrid smoke out, gasping for air.
    “Nicholas, are you okay? Wake up! It’s just a dream, hon.” Cora was shaking me with her free hand. I took a deep breath. The truck air burned my lungs. I gagged, almost vomiting into my lap.
    “Nicholas, your Tic Tacs are on the dashboard.”
    She didn’t wait for me to reach for them. She thrust the pack into my hand. I opened it and dumped almost half the pack into my mouth. Cora cracked my window and I leaned up against it. The combination of Tic Tacs and fresh air helped me recover from the dream. I waited a couple of minutes with my eyes closed and then put my seat up.
    “Feeling better?”
    I nodded, not able to speak yet.
    “Well, let’s talk about where we are moving. That should get your mind off of being sick and your bad dreams. You are going to love our new place. Well, not that we didn’t love the other places, but this place is not a small town. It’s bigger.” Cora was talking to me like she was talking to one of her girlfriends about some juicy piece of gossip. She continued, “It actually has a mall, movie theaters, and nice restaurants. Can you believe it?” I would have laughed if I had been feeling better.
    Cora bought all of our stuff on the Shopping Channel and the Internet. She even got most of our groceries from the Internet, too. So to have a place big enough for her to shop and still be able to blend in sounded like heaven for her. Yet I knew that even though she had those new places nearby, she still wouldn’t use them. And the restaurants were nothing; she could do better herself. She was a gourmet cook. So her excitement over these places was more of a hope and dream of hers than a reality.
    “Now, the average class size will be around 400 students, not the 100 you have been accustomed to.”
    “Why are we moving to a bigger town? I thought that there is less chance of people recognizing us and discovering my secret in a small town.”
    “Well,” said Cora, “I wanted to see how we would do in a bigger town. Plus, you need to be around more people.”
    This went against everything she had taught me for the last five years. We were supposed to live in a small town, not get close to anyone, and blend in. Cora said that small-town folk know how to keep to themselves.
    “Who are you, and what have you done with my aunt?” I said, feeling panicked by the sudden change.
    She laughed, never looking away from the road. “Honey, I am the same loving, beautiful, intelligent Aunt Cora you’ve always known. You are getting older, and you know how to keep our secrets, so it is time for more responsibility.”
    “Well, how do you know I’m ready? I could have messed up everything last night. I told Andy that we were moving, and then I went to a party and