Pseudonymous Bosch - This Isnt What It Looks Like

A T A CERTAIN POINT IN THE FIRST 150 PAGES OF THIS BOOK THERE WILL BE AN EMERGENCY DRILL . P LEASE FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND BEHAVE EXACTLY AS YOU WOULD IN A REAL EMERGENCY . T HANK YOU .

P.B.

Dude, just letting u know i will be offline for a wk. Camping w the rents on Mt Fuji so dad can finish that pollution study frum last yr. You know the ruleno electronic nothing in nature. (Not even music!!! AaarghSuckage!) Will check u out soon as Im back. Hope Cass ok by then.

Listen, Bro, u r being played harder than an air guitar in front of my bathroom mirror Just got back from Fuji and saw yr e-mail about Benjamin. Sounded so random, the way he changed, so I did a little name search. Nohting But then I looked up that school he went to, and guess whos head of school at New Promethean A guy named drum roll, please Luciano Bergamo. Uh-huh. Dr. Freakin L!!! Yep, Benjamins school was run by Midnight Sun! Dunno what it means Spy??? Definitely NOT GOOD. Alert alert alert! Plz tell me when u get this so I can relax and go back to building game levels.

The Secret Series is meant to be secret! If you must carry your book in public, please disguise it first.

Groucho

Unknown Comic

Burglar

Ghost

Elvis

The camera obscura that Cass, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji visited at the Renaissance Faire was so large, their entire class could fit inside, but you can also make a camera obscura small enough to fit in your hands.

What youll need:

A small cardboard box It should be about the size of a shoe box, but it should be a traditional brown corrugated box with four flaps on top rather than a lid.

Tracing paper or some similar translucent paper, like vellum

Black tape or other dark-colored tape

A medium- to large-size nail as in hammer and nail, not fingernail

A blanket or large towel a wizards cape or spare toga would also work

To make the camera obscura:

Tape up the bottom side of the boxincluding the middle and the cornersso no light can get through the cracks.

Then take the nail and poke a hole in the exact center of the bottom of the box. The hole should be just big enough to let light through, and the edges of the hole should be as clean and round as possible. This hole is your aperturea fancy word that means opening.

Now set the box upright so the bottom is the bottom again.

OK, this is the trickiest part. Notice that the top of the box has four flaps: two larger outer flaps, and two smaller inner flaps. Open the larger flaps and close the smaller flaps. Then tape the sides of the smaller flaps to the bottom edges of the larger flaps so that the smaller flaps stay flat (level with the top of the box), and so no light gets through.

You should now have a box that is completely sealed except for one rectangular opening.

Cut a piece of tracing paper a little larger than the opening and tape it over the opening, keeping the tracing paper as smooth and taut as possible. This is going to be the screen of your camera obscura.

Construction is finished.

To use your camera obscura, you should be standing indoors and facing a bright window. Throw your towel, blanket, or cape over your head. Then hold the camera obscura in front of your face with the screen facing you and with the open flaps to either side. The aperture should not be covered by the blanket. But all the sides of the camera obscura should be. You dont want to see any light except what you see in your viewing screen.

On your screen, you should now be seeing an image of the window youre standing in front of. The image will be upside down. Wave your hand in front of the aperture: your hand will seem to wave in the opposite direction. Do not try to walk at the same time.

AKA Frequently Annoying Questions Oh sorry, I meant FrequentlyAskedQuestions

Q: Why?

A: Just why? You mean like why the Secret Series?

Q: Yeah.

A: Why not? (You knew thats how Id answer, didnt you?)

Q: OK, then, heres a real question. Why do the Midnight Sun members wear gloves? Is it simply a sign of membership, like a badge or a Scout patch?

A: No, they wear gloves because otherwise their hands will reveal their true age. For some as yet unknown reason, their powerful rejuvenating elixirs (which keep them alive for hundreds of years) do not work on their hands. Incidentally, this is why very young Midnight Sun members have no need to wear gloves.

Q: Is everything you write true? Did it really happen?

A: Yes. Well, no! I mean, Im sorry, I cant answer that. Just rememberall the names have been changed. For more information, Im going to have to insist you speak to my lawyer.

Q: Could you ever be friends with somebody who didnt like chocolate?

A: No. Well, maybe, if they gave me chocolate anyway. A lot of chocolate.

Q: Do you ever read your books after you write them?

A: Are you kidding? Dont you think theyd be a little different if I did?

Q: What is the Secret?

A: I believe youve asked me that before.

Q: Why wont you tell us the Secret?

A: Have you bothered to look up the word in the dictionary?

Q: I thought you said you couldnt keep a secret.

A: OK, you got me.

Q: Admit it, you dont really know the Secret.

A: A, thats not a question. B, I wouldnt tell you if I did.

Q: I hate you.

A: The feeling is mutual, I assure you.

Q: I dont really hate you. I just want to know the Secret.