Crown of Shadows

Chapter 1

Buddy Lavender trudged along the small dirt path to the Browns' house. He kicked a small stone absentmindedly to the side as he walked. He had an envelope in his left jacket pocket. It was the last one. He had been sent on a seemingly important errand for his sister.

"Here, Buddy, I have an errand for you. I want you to deliver these invitations for me. The addresses are on the front." She had thrusted a handful of envelopes into his hand.

Buddy had taken the letters and looked at them. All of the letters were in pink envelopes with several flower stickers on them. On the front was the name and address of all the people that the letters were for.

"Don't worry, I'll give you three whole bags of Mrs. Maple's chocolate muffins," said Sadie as she left Buddy with the letters and his leftover breakfast. And so Buddy had spent his Saturday going to all of the places on the letters and delivering them to their owners.

He sighed before knocking on the last door of the day. It was opened by a pretty, dark haired girl.

"Oh, hello Buddy, how are you? Do come in," she said as she opened the door a bit wider.

"Oh, thank you. I have a letter for you from Sadie," he said as he came inside and handed Freya the pink letter.

"Oh my, what is it now?" asked Freya with a little laugh as she opened the envelope.

Buddy sat down on the sofa beside the fireplace. He loved the Browns' house. It was away from the rest of the houses and it was always quiet. The smell of freshly baked cookies was wafting through the house.

"Ah, hullo, Buddy. Do you want a cookie?" Frederick had come out of the kitchen with a half–eaten cookie in his left hand.

"Yes please, they smell great. And I'm quite hungry. I've spent the day delivering these letters," he said as he gestured to the letter that Freya was reading.

A moment later, the three friends were all sitting on the sofa with a still warm cookie each.

"Well, what is the letter about?" asked Frederick.

"Well, it seems like Sadie wants to start a secret book club. She has invited us to the library to talk about it. There is a list of all the people who have been invited. Let's see, there's Izzy Hopper, Buddy Lavender, Harry and Hailey Pickleweed, and Freya and Frederick Brown."

"Well, that sounds like your thing. You're always reading some sort of book," said Frederick as he got up for another cookie.

"I don't know. If Sadie is running the club, I have a bad feeling that something is bound to go wrong," replied Freya.

"Well, we can just show up for the meeting at the library and see if we like it. And if we don't we can just opt out," said Buddy.

"Yes, that sounds best. The meeting is supposed to be this evening," said Freya.

Buddy got his shoes back on while Frederick got his satchel. A few moments later, the three of them headed out the door to the library.

The library was one of Freya's favorite places. It was a great, big brick building. It had two levels that shelved hundreds of great books. There was also a lovely back porch with a few benches and a birdfeeder. On the first floor was where the main desk was. That was where Maybell worked. Maybell was an excellent librarian. Freya and Frederick knew Maybell very well. They had met her in a magical garden that they had accidentally fallen into last summer.

As they walked into the great library, they were met by a very animated, cheerful girl with curly blond hair. She was wearing a pink dress and a big bow in her curls.