You looked around and saw no one around. You paused, listening carefully but heard nothing and turned back to the book you had found. Opening it, you were immediately bombarded by an eerie dim light. It quickly faded and you shrugged it off to flip through the pages. Only, as you did, the color began to run from your face as the contents of each page struck a chord in your mind.
"This page dabbles in advanced chemistry." you whispered. "This page, sound wave manipulation... and this page..."
You quickly close the book, your face then turning an ashen white. "Don't tell me..."
You placed the book down then leaned over the coffee table and let out a heavy breath onto one corner. Three lights lit up and a barely audible beep was heard as a hidden panel on the top of the table opened an a small platform rose, holding a large, faded book. On the cover of the book, in large bold letters was the title, 'Chaotic Science'. You took the book from the platform and it sank with the hidden panel closing behind it with a low hum.
Holding the book close to your heart, you said, "Please let me be wrong!"
The book had been given to you by your Uncle Jack one year ago, shortly after your sister, Hayley had left. At the time, you secretly blamed yourself for it happening. You did not fully understand then what Uncle Jack meant when he spoke to you about it.
"Things happen for a reason, John." he said. "That is why I am passing this book on to you."
"What is it?" you asked him, curious.
"Something I had studied and mastered over my long life." Jack replied. He then pointed to you serious. "You must not tell ANY ONE about that book, especially not your mother."
"Why?"
"Things happen for a reason." repeated Jack. "Study and practice the science well. Mark my words, John, it will, someday, save your family."
When you first opened the book, you found instructions to a hidden door in the basement and how to open it. Beyond the door, you found a secret room that extended out, under the back yard. It was already fully equipped with everything any scientist could want, including libraries of books on the subject of Chaotic Science. He could only guess then that it had all been somehow set up by Uncle Jack. Sadly, he passed away only a few days after giving you the book and you took his instructions as his final wish and began to study the curios book inside the secret room.
As time passed, you began to practice and soon love the forbidden sciences. You understood then why you could not tell your family, your mother would have forbid you to study the science any further. You were not about to allow that to happen. Volunteering to do all of the family's laundry after school was a brilliant plan in your mind to practice your science without arousing any suspicion. In the year that passed since then, you had become quite talented and, thanks to a few successful experiments, highly intelligent. Only that had a down side as well. School became too easy for you and a real pain to endure as you could literally teach the teacher. Fortunately, at home, you found that just being yourself kept any suspicions from rising.
Returning your mind to the present, you looked at your book then to the one you found and knotted your teeth in decision. "There's only one way to be certain."
You placed your book next to the other and opened them both up and moved through the pages, comparing them to each other. As you did, a cold chill of fear ran down your spine as your eyes widened in horror.
"This.... This is impossible!" you whispered, your fear and voice rising. "They are almost identical!"
You then held out your hand and concentrated, using a forbidden science you had learned, pyrokinesis. Soon, a bright but harmless flame appeared in your hand as you thought about your discovery.
"Was Uncle Jack having me learn science... or witchcraft!?!"
Unknown to you, as you mussed over your own question, someone was watching and listening....
Who was it?