Miranda's Calling

The smell of slightly damp earth reached her nose as she and Cocoa dug into the rich darkness surrounding the Old Wizard's trunk. They had all but cleared the roots beneath when Miranda thought she caught a glimpse of something. She looked more closely and saw what looked like a piece of old leather lodged under a tangle of roots, earth, and rock. Carefully separating the snarled mass Miranda found not just a piece of leather, but what was actually the cover of a book. The book was partially contained within a box that had apparently begun to splinter, perhaps from the shifting of the tree's roots. Miranda carefully worked the box and its treasure out from its gnarled nest. Fortunately the box had kept the book in relatively decent shape, enough so that as Miranda fanned through the pages she could make out the words on the parchment. As she dusted it off she discovered that etched on the front of the book was one somewhat faded word: Shadows. Miranda was intrigued-"Shadows" seemed an unlikely name for a book. And what was it doing here, in a battered old box, buried in the earth beneath this tree? Cocoa sniffed it intently and Miranda wondered what secrets the dog's high powered nose made her privy to . . .