The Secret

IT ALL BEGAN WITH THE BETRAYAL.

When Susannah Goode is falsely accused of being a witch by her true love's family—the Fiers—she is burned at the stake.

Her father vows revenge, cursing Benjamin and Matthew Fier with a lifetime of unspeakable horror and bloody destruction.

Poor Mary—the daughter of Matthew Fier is the first to bear the tragedy of the fatal evil. She learns the hard way that there is no end to the curse.

Now the next generation—Ezra Fier and his children Jonathan, Abigail and Rachel—must face the Fier family curse and all the horror it brings!

Books by R. L. Stine

Fear Street

THE NEW GIRL

THE SURPRISE PARTY

THE OVERNIGHT

MISSING

THE WRONG NUMBER

THE SLEEPWALKER

HAUNTED

HALLOWEEN PARTY

THE STEPSISTER

SKI WEEKEND

THE FIRE GAME

LIGHTS OUT

THE SECRET BEDROOM

THE KNIFE

PROM QUEEN

FIRST DATE

THE BEST FRIEND

THE CHEATER

SUNBURN

Fear Street Super Chiller

PARTY SUMMER

SILENT NIGHT

GOODNIGHT KISS

BROKEN HEARTS

Fear Street Cheerleaders

THE FIRST EVIL

THE SECOND EVIL

THE THIRD EVIL

The Fear Street Saga

THE BETRAYAL

THE SECRET

Other Novels

HOW I BROKE UP WITH ERNIE

PHONE CALLS

CURTAINS

BROKEN DATE

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK
Original

An Archway Paperback published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 1993 by Parachute Press, Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-86832-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-671-86832-1
eISBN-13: 978-1-4424-0741-7

First Archway Paperback printing September 1993

10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover art by Bill Schmidt

Printed in the U.S.A.

IL 7+

The Secret

N
ora's pen scratched against the paper. Dry again. Wearily she thought of dipping the point into the inkwell, changed her mind and, yawning, set the pen down on the small writing table.

Just for a minute. Just for one minute's rest…

Her back ached and her fingers were cramped. She had been scribbling furiously all night by the light of a single candle.

Nora knew she had to tell her story. And she had to tell it tonight.

She touched the silver pendant that hung from a chain around her neck. Her fingers picked out the silver claws, the blue stones. Then fire appeared before her closed eyes, burning in her memory. Fire that burned the innocent Susannah Goode in 1692. Two hundred years of hatred and revenge followed Susannah's death. And then, at last, the terrible fire that consumed the Fear mansion …

Nora's eyes filled with tears.
Daniel … my Daniel
…

After so many fires, all was in ashes now.

Sighing sadly, Nora dipped her pen into the inkwell. No time to rest. The story must be told.

She heard a noise and stopped writing. She listened.

Footsteps. Someone was coming!

Her hands trembling, Nora frantically shoved the paper and ink into the desk drawer. No one must see this, she thought. No one can see it until it is finished. And it is far from finished. There are so many horrors left untold.

So many horrors …

She held her breath, listening. The footsteps moved closer, closer …

PART ONE

Wickham Village, Massachusetts Colony
1737

V
ILLAGE OF
W
ICKHAM
.

Jonathan Fier sighed with relief as the wagon rolled past the wooden sign. Their long journey was over at last.

He glanced at his father sitting beside him on the box of the wagon. Ezra Fier's face was haggard and drawn, but his black eyes sparked with excitement. He snapped the reins with renewed energy, and the chestnut horse trotted faster down the rutted, tree-lined road.

“We are here, Jonathan,” Ezra said to his son. “After all those weeks in this wagon, we are finally in Wickham. George Goode is going to wish he had never been born.” Ezra's voice dipped lower, almost to a whisper. “Revenge at last. It will be so sweet!”

Jonathan felt a cold chill.
Revenge
. Revenge for what?

I still do not understand, Jonathan thought. Who is George Goode? I have never even met anyone named Goode. Goodes have never done me any harm. So why did we have to leave the farm in Pennsylvania? Why have we spent the last six months driving east in this cramped and dirty old wagon?

Jonathan stole a glance at his father's gaunt face. We've come here to seek revenge against the Goodes, Papa says. Everything he does is for revenge.

Sometimes I think Papa is crazy.

Jonathan immediately wished he could take back that thought. How could I think such a thing? he scolded himself. He is my father. He cannot be crazy. There must be a reason for all the misery we have suffered. There
must
be.

“I have searched for the Goodes through five colonies,” Ezra muttered. “And found no one. But now—” He paused to lift his hat and run a bony hand through his straight black hair. “Now I feel sure. I know they are here. I
know
I have found them at last.”

“Ezra!” Jonathan's mother called from the back of the wagon. “Please slow down. The girls are being tossed all around!”

Ezra scowled and pulled on the reins. Jonathan turned on the box and looked back into the covered wagon.

His mother, Jane, and his two sisters, Abigail and Rachel, were huddled back there, along with all the family's possessions: pots and pans, dishes, utensils, clothes, blankets, the Fier family Bible, and the little food they had left.