Night Books: A Secret Rediscovered

Just to Clarify:

I don’t own Nightbooks by J. A. White or his characters. I simply own the rewrite and storyline of the rewrite. Please notice that this starts in (the original book’s title of the chapter) 15: Dangerous Lies.

Author’s Note:

Hello readers! Dominique Billington here. I’m sure if you’ve read Harry Potter: Changing the course of history (If you haven’t no worries!) then you’ve probably realized I have a knack for rewrites. This rewrite is based on a thought I had while doing homework. What if Alex got along with Natacha? What if Alex joined Natacha? And that’s what’s started this simple rewrite. With no further ado, please enjoy, Night Books: A Secret Recovered.

Chapter 1: A Scary Secret.

If Alex and Natacha had been alone, he would’ve just told her. Living through that morning again would have been humiliating, but in the end, Natacha’s opinion didn’t matter. The problem was Yasmin. Once she discovered the truth, he was afraid that she wouldn’t want to be his friend anymore.

“Tell me,” Natacha said, sternly. “Now.” Natacha’s eyes started to glow and her hands twitched. Alex’s hands were trembling as well, but he was frightened. What would Yasmin think, He thought. If she knew exactly what happened? So with a deep, and heavy sigh, he began his deadly tale.

“I was in math,” He started, “When my teacher got a call from the office and said that Mr.Calkins wanted to see me. I went, ‘Who’s Mr.Calkins?’ because I really had no idea, and Greg Jenkins said, ‘He’s the guy who talks to crazy kids.’ The class thought that was pretty funny. I left quickly. It took me a while to find Mr.Calkin’s office and when I did it looked like he had been waiting a very long time. He looked pretty annoyed. ‘Mosher right?’ He asked as he looked at a file on his desk. ‘Alexander?’ I nodded even though it was weird because no one ever called me Alexander.” He paused and looked at Yasmin’s expression, nothing could describe the look on her face because she had no expression. “Mr.Calkins asked me a bunch of questions, mostly ice breakers. I answered them as best as I could but I was trying to figure out why and how I was here. I wasn’t a trouble maker and I wasn’t flunking out of school.” His voice perked up a bit. “In fact, I had straight A’s!” His voice went low again as if he was confessing a great secret. “Mr.Calkin told me that my teacher and even my own mother,” Alex remembered the words now, reliving every minute of it. “Had called, worried about my “mental state” ‘They had photo-copied the more disturbing stories’ he told me ‘Did you know that?’ I didn’t. I thought my teacher liked me, or rather, my stories. And my mother had never brought up anything about my mental state before, so why now? Mr. Calkin then asked me a series of questions that I had refused to answer. I shook my head and told him the stories didn’t mean anything. I could tell he thought I was lying.” Alex cleared his parched throat, as much as he wanted to cry and sob, and brawl like a four-year-old, he couldn’t. You just don’t do that in front of Natacha. “He thinks there’s something wrong with me. And who am I to argue? He has degrees on his wall. He wears a tie. He’s an expert. I decided right then and there to destroy my night books and never write another scary story again. I was terrified if I didn’t stop, I would become the boy Mr.Calkin already imagined me to be.” He ended up crying anyways, but he brushed them away immediately.

“Well then,” Natacha said. “I don’t think you will need your story tonight.” Natacha finished eating and left the two in the room together. In complete silence.

Had this been what she planned? Alex thought. She saw a friendship was going to blossom between me and Yasmin and she...what did she do?

“That was…” Yasmin said, escaping the silence Natacha had left them in. “That was extremely..” She tried to place her words right. “Scary.” She said at last.

“..So...what does that mean?” Alex asked.

“It means…” Yasmin said, preparing herself. Even if she did like having Alex as a friend, all that had just been said? It was too much for her to handle. “I can’t be friends with a crazy kid.”

“B-But!” Alex began to protest and then stopped. This is what Natacha wanted. He thought, grimly. To break the bonds between me and Yasmin...without two there was no way to escape.

“Fine,” Alex said, clearing his throat and pointing to the door. “You’ll find your way out, I presume?” And Yasmin walked out without saying a word. Once she was long gone Alex cried^___and he cried with Lenore in his lap. Lenore didn’t mind, not at all. Then suddenly, a person entered the room.

“Aww? Now you're all sad and misty-eyed. Whatever did happen to the goodness in friendship?” Natacha teased him. Or maybe she wasn’t. Lenore hissed at first but with another pet from Alex, she stopped.

“Friendship sucks.” He answered, even if she hadn’t asked a direct question.

“Of course friendship sucks!” Natacha said, almost as if she was praising him. “But, what if I tell you a secret? But! In exchange, you shall become my apprentice.”

Alex thought for a moment. Her apprentice? Then remembering what happened early, I’ve got nothing to lose do I?

“Fine,” He held out his hand and Natacha shook it. Like making a deal with Bill Cipher. “Now what’s the secret?”

“I was actually a prisoner of someone much, much, much older than me. Her name was Aunt Gris.” All of Natacha’s angry focused on that one word, making it impossible to forget or to pass. “Now that’s some old magic. She ate kids to keep her youth. Then...one day..she ate my friend. His name was Ian. He looked out for me and taught me everything I needed to do to stay safe. Then...she made me clean the oven afterward. Closed the door behind me too. Till it was all spic-and-span. That was the day I decided never to be powerless again.” She paused. “I played the faithful little servant. The library, if you haven’t guessed by now, was now hers. She was the one obsessed with scary stories and I just pretended to like them too. In time, Aut Gris grew to trust me. She taught me potions. Nothing she ever thought I’d use against her, for she underestimated how much of a knack I had for the art.” She clasped her hands together and sighed. “Aunt Gris made the house, the house protected itself. Therefore I couldn’t get rid of her. It did offer me magic, the mist? That’s magic.” Alex listened carefully and thoughtfully.

“So...one day you walked in the oven and when you walked out you became a different person,” Alex said, slowly as he started to put the pieces together.

“Exactly,” Natacha said. “Now don’t forget your promise, storyteller.” Natacha walked out of the room and Lenore looked at Alex.

“What was that?” Lenore asked. Alex almost jumped off the bed.

“Y-You talk?” Alex managed to say.

“Well, of course not. Natacha gave you the power to understand me.” Lenore explained if that was the dumbest question in the world.

“So...I really am her apprentice..aren’t I?”

“Well, duh. But what’s wrong with Yasmin?”

“She..uh..”

“Nevermind. Sleep. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you.” Alex debated and protested but nevertheless, he fell asleep a short time later. His normally ragged and wet snores were quieter, softer, and shorter.