“A large mound of it sucked in every remaining wave of bad energy and trapped it. And as the gold tightened its grip, it shrank to the size of a nugget. For years I tried to talk Henry into giving it to me, but he refused. He felt responsible for the devastation and wanted to keep the gold to remind him of his failure. And now, after all these years, it has fallen into the hands of this young man.”

“But … but … ” Henry furiously rubbed his head. “I don’t have it! I mean, I left it home! I didn’t know what it was. I was scared … ”

“Calm down, Henry.” Coralis reached to pat his arm. “We need to go to your house anyway to retrieve the books. The nugget is not going anywhere.”

“Sir.” Molly’s voice trembled slightly. She gently lowered Brainna to the table. “The first time … the gold trapped negative energy. Is it safe to assume that it would only attract more negative energy?”

“Yes, my dear Molly,” he said. “And therein lies a rather big problem.”

Henry could hardly stand it any longer. He had made so many mistakes. He suddenly wished he had never laid eyes on the Guidebook. “What did I do?” he moaned.

“Well, my dear boy, if I am correct, I believe you have succeeded in capturing moonbeams in your aura. And not the pleasant variety, either.”

“That sounds bad.” Henry slumped forward and buried his head into his arms.

“Relax, Henry.” Coralis stood and smiled at him. “Our adventure is just beginning.”

But he kept a final thought to himself: The worst may be yet to come.

Chapter Thirteen

The rain had slackened, but the wind still whipped in crazy circles. Henry thought it was remarkable how it seemed to come from every direction at once.

Brianna, however, did not appreciate the elements in quite the same way. “I told you to buy a poncho yesterday—but no, don’t bother listening to me. I’m an animal now, Henry. I can sense things like rain coming … ” She continued to chitter away, concealed within Henry’s jacket. At first he worried that anyone who overheard would assume that Henry was talking to himself. From his research about the moon, he knew such people were called lunatics—crazies! Of course, that was before advancements in technology. Now passersby would more likely assume that he had a cell phone or an iPod making noise in his pocket. These days, it was impossible to tell the nuts from the normals.

Henry tightened his hold on his sister to give her as much shelter as possible. He tried to make it a habit to learn something new every day. On this day, he’d learned something about fabric—specifically the difference between water-resistant and waterproof. An involuntary shiver passed from his damp neck to his shoulders to his chest.