Forbidden Secrets
Encyclopedia
Forbidden Secrets is the third book
in R. L. Stine
's Fear Street Sagas
series. It was ghostwritten
by Brandon Alexander and published on September 1996 by Simon Pulse.
Savannah Gentry is waiting on the porch for her brother, Zachariah and his new friend, Tyler Fier. It is said to be Savannah's birthday. Just when Savannah is getting irritated, Zachariah and Tyler return on their horses. Tyler asks Savannah to take a walk with her in the fields. He states that he found a flower which he cannot name. When the two are in the fields, Tyler kisses Savannah and asks her to marry him. Savannah says yes, then hears something moving in the bushes. Turning around, she catches a glimpse of her older sister, Victoria running away. Savannah is nervous, as she knows that Victoria has a crush on Tyler too. She searches for her sister, later finding her in the barn. Victoria is performing a dark magic spell, killing piglets. Savannah stops her sister, after which Victoria states that Tyler is evil and his family has a curse upon them. Savannah doesn't take it seriously, thinking that Victoria is jealous of her and wants her to stay away from Tyler. Soon, a few minutes later, a war breaks out and Tyler says he has to leave and fight for his home in the North. Since Savannah lives in the South, she refuses to leave with Tyler and betray the South. Tyler is angered and tells Savannah that she will have to pay for choosing the South over him.
Four years later, Savannah and her sister's parents have died, and Zachariah is still away from home, fighting for the South. The two sisters are starving and hope that when their brother returns, things will get better. They eat worms to survive and wear the old clothes that they have left. One night, while Savannah is trying to fall asleep, Zachariah appears in her bedroom. He is wounded and blood is flowing from his open mouth. He tries to tell his sister something but soon rots and falls to the ground. Savannah wakes up to find that she was dreaming, but is terrified when she sees a puddle of blood on the exact spot where her brother was standing.
In the morning, a letter from Tyler arrives for Savannah. In it, he apologizes and is sorry to say that Zachariah is no longer alive. Tyler promises her that he will come back for her when the war is over. Savannah and Victoria are heart broken. Victoria once again warns her little sister that Tyler is evil and that they must avoid him. Once again, Savannah does not listen. Days pass by and Savannah waits for Tyler to return. On the day he does, Victoria refuses to move to the North with him and Savannah. Later, though, she reluctantly agrees. She stuffs dirt from her mother and father's graves into a black pouch and offers it to Savannah. Knowing that pouches with dirt are used to ward off evil, Savannah refuses to take it, after which Victoria pins it to her own skirt. Victoria then promises her sister that one of them will be buried before the year is out. The three soon arrive at Blackrose Manor, Tyler's house in the North. Blackrose Manor is described to be covered in black roses, which is how Tyler says it got its name. The sisters meet the creepy and ancient housekeeper, Mrs. Mooreland. After Mrs. Mooreland shows Savannah her new bedroom, she warns Savannah to leave Blackrose Manor before it is evil. Savannah is baffled and is irritated to find her whole room decorated in black. Downstairs, Savannah walks in on Tyler attacking a portrait with a butcher's knife, overcome by some post-traumatic stress from what he did in the war. Savannah says she understands how he feels, because she had to eat worms. Victoria and Lucy come running in to the room, screaming over Victoria's black pouch. Lucy is a little girl who is like a sister to Tyler, and lives with him since her parents died. Victoria states that Lucy took her pouch, which Lucy gives back to her after Tyler tells her to do so.
Lucy brings Savannah to her room to show off her doll collection. Savannah is flabbergasted to see that all the dolls have black eyes, black hair and, like Lucy, are dressed in black. Lucy tells Savannah that all of the dolls' names are Lucy, except for one. She secretly shows Savannah a doll whose hair she cut off and painted the eyes blue, to resemble Tyler. It is then that Savannah realizes that Lucy has a crush on Tyler. Savannah picks up a severed doll, whose face is smashed in. Lucy says that the other dolls were happy when the doll fell, because the severed doll was so pretty. Savannah comes away from the disturbing sight to her room, only to find Victoria trying to hide a hawk's eyeball under Savannah's pillow for protection. Savannah notices that a strip of Victoria's hair has turned stark white. Victoria tells Savannah that Lucy is actually seventeen years old, the same age Savannah had been when she had met Tyler. At night, a new maid who introduces herself as Hattie, comes into Savannah's room. Savannah asks Hattie to iron her dress for her. When Hattie opens the closet, though, she finds the blue dress torn up. At breakfast, Lucy sits next to Savannah, who feeds a bit of her sausage to Hattie's cat Calico. Calico nearly dies as it is revealed that the sausage was poisoned. Savannah is terrified as she struggles to decide who, out of Victoria, Lucy and Mrs. Mooreland, tried to kill her. That night, someone sets fire to Savannah's curtains. Fortunately, Savannah wakes up and deals with the situation by moving up the date of the wedding. Coming into Savannah's room, Lucy then reveals that she killed her own parents by burning them.
Outside, Savannah is horrified to see Hattie get trampled by Whisper, a horse given to Savannah by Tyler and named after Savannah's home in the South, Whispering Oaks. Mrs. Mooreland tells Savannah that she will take care of Hattie's body. Later, in the kitchen, Savannah finds Calico licking blood off the floor. She is horrified to see Mrs. Mooreland's body (with one of her hand's cut off) stuffed in the oven. Savannah runs to find Tyler, finding him fighting with Victoria instead. She overhears Victoria take the blame for poisoning the sausage, driving Whisper crazy and setting the curtain's on fire, but only to protect Savannah. Victoria is holding a knife, threatening to kill Tyler with it and end the "evil curse". Savannah tries to snatch the knife out of Victoria's hands, only to accidentally stab Victoria with it. Tyler demands that Savannah marry him immediately and after Victoria's funeral, they do. Lucy tries to get Savannah to promise that she will never have kids, so that the Fier family curse is not passed on. She then has a tantrum when Savannah and Tyler try to sleep together and says that Tyler should have married her instead.
Lucy wakes Savannah up a few nights later, stating that she knew the truth. Savannah runs after Lucy in the dark, only to find Lucy's dead body (with one hand cut off) lying near the stairs. Terrified, Savannah tries to find Tyler, ending up in a lab with potions bubbling and Lucy's severed hand on the counter. Tyler is shocked to see Savannah there but then reveals that he was the one who killed all the others. He also reveals that he killed Zachariah, since Zachariah was fighting for the South. Angered, Savannah stabs Tyler with a pitch fork, after which Tyler starts laughing, stating the he is already dead. Zachariah stabbed him in the gut during the war, but since he practices the dark arts, he brought himself back to life. Accidentally, Savannah knocks over a tube filled with acid and the acid burns Lucy's severed hand. That is when Tyler starts to rot, only a skeleton remaining afterwards.
At the end of the book, the old lady (Savannah) turns her head to look at her dead husband's skeleton. She then reads the inscription on her sister, Victoria Gentry's grave.
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
in R. L. Stine
R. L. Stine
Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The...
's Fear Street Sagas
Fear Street Sagas
Fear Street Sagas is a series of teen horror books by R. L. Stine. Fear Street Sagas is the spinoff of the series The Fear Street Saga and is part of the Fear Street series. Almost all of the books in this series were ghostwritten, despite being published under R. L. Stine's name.-Books:There were...
series. It was ghostwritten
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
by Brandon Alexander and published on September 1996 by Simon Pulse.
Plot
The story begins with an old woman who is deeply in distress. The woman is described to be sitting in a garden with many black roses. She states that she is sitting beside her sister's grave, who died because of her. She keeps on repeating the names, Savannah and Victoria, not saying which one of them is her. Then, the woman begins to tell her tragic story.Savannah Gentry is waiting on the porch for her brother, Zachariah and his new friend, Tyler Fier. It is said to be Savannah's birthday. Just when Savannah is getting irritated, Zachariah and Tyler return on their horses. Tyler asks Savannah to take a walk with her in the fields. He states that he found a flower which he cannot name. When the two are in the fields, Tyler kisses Savannah and asks her to marry him. Savannah says yes, then hears something moving in the bushes. Turning around, she catches a glimpse of her older sister, Victoria running away. Savannah is nervous, as she knows that Victoria has a crush on Tyler too. She searches for her sister, later finding her in the barn. Victoria is performing a dark magic spell, killing piglets. Savannah stops her sister, after which Victoria states that Tyler is evil and his family has a curse upon them. Savannah doesn't take it seriously, thinking that Victoria is jealous of her and wants her to stay away from Tyler. Soon, a few minutes later, a war breaks out and Tyler says he has to leave and fight for his home in the North. Since Savannah lives in the South, she refuses to leave with Tyler and betray the South. Tyler is angered and tells Savannah that she will have to pay for choosing the South over him.
Four years later, Savannah and her sister's parents have died, and Zachariah is still away from home, fighting for the South. The two sisters are starving and hope that when their brother returns, things will get better. They eat worms to survive and wear the old clothes that they have left. One night, while Savannah is trying to fall asleep, Zachariah appears in her bedroom. He is wounded and blood is flowing from his open mouth. He tries to tell his sister something but soon rots and falls to the ground. Savannah wakes up to find that she was dreaming, but is terrified when she sees a puddle of blood on the exact spot where her brother was standing.
In the morning, a letter from Tyler arrives for Savannah. In it, he apologizes and is sorry to say that Zachariah is no longer alive. Tyler promises her that he will come back for her when the war is over. Savannah and Victoria are heart broken. Victoria once again warns her little sister that Tyler is evil and that they must avoid him. Once again, Savannah does not listen. Days pass by and Savannah waits for Tyler to return. On the day he does, Victoria refuses to move to the North with him and Savannah. Later, though, she reluctantly agrees. She stuffs dirt from her mother and father's graves into a black pouch and offers it to Savannah. Knowing that pouches with dirt are used to ward off evil, Savannah refuses to take it, after which Victoria pins it to her own skirt. Victoria then promises her sister that one of them will be buried before the year is out. The three soon arrive at Blackrose Manor, Tyler's house in the North. Blackrose Manor is described to be covered in black roses, which is how Tyler says it got its name. The sisters meet the creepy and ancient housekeeper, Mrs. Mooreland. After Mrs. Mooreland shows Savannah her new bedroom, she warns Savannah to leave Blackrose Manor before it is evil. Savannah is baffled and is irritated to find her whole room decorated in black. Downstairs, Savannah walks in on Tyler attacking a portrait with a butcher's knife, overcome by some post-traumatic stress from what he did in the war. Savannah says she understands how he feels, because she had to eat worms. Victoria and Lucy come running in to the room, screaming over Victoria's black pouch. Lucy is a little girl who is like a sister to Tyler, and lives with him since her parents died. Victoria states that Lucy took her pouch, which Lucy gives back to her after Tyler tells her to do so.
Lucy brings Savannah to her room to show off her doll collection. Savannah is flabbergasted to see that all the dolls have black eyes, black hair and, like Lucy, are dressed in black. Lucy tells Savannah that all of the dolls' names are Lucy, except for one. She secretly shows Savannah a doll whose hair she cut off and painted the eyes blue, to resemble Tyler. It is then that Savannah realizes that Lucy has a crush on Tyler. Savannah picks up a severed doll, whose face is smashed in. Lucy says that the other dolls were happy when the doll fell, because the severed doll was so pretty. Savannah comes away from the disturbing sight to her room, only to find Victoria trying to hide a hawk's eyeball under Savannah's pillow for protection. Savannah notices that a strip of Victoria's hair has turned stark white. Victoria tells Savannah that Lucy is actually seventeen years old, the same age Savannah had been when she had met Tyler. At night, a new maid who introduces herself as Hattie, comes into Savannah's room. Savannah asks Hattie to iron her dress for her. When Hattie opens the closet, though, she finds the blue dress torn up. At breakfast, Lucy sits next to Savannah, who feeds a bit of her sausage to Hattie's cat Calico. Calico nearly dies as it is revealed that the sausage was poisoned. Savannah is terrified as she struggles to decide who, out of Victoria, Lucy and Mrs. Mooreland, tried to kill her. That night, someone sets fire to Savannah's curtains. Fortunately, Savannah wakes up and deals with the situation by moving up the date of the wedding. Coming into Savannah's room, Lucy then reveals that she killed her own parents by burning them.
Outside, Savannah is horrified to see Hattie get trampled by Whisper, a horse given to Savannah by Tyler and named after Savannah's home in the South, Whispering Oaks. Mrs. Mooreland tells Savannah that she will take care of Hattie's body. Later, in the kitchen, Savannah finds Calico licking blood off the floor. She is horrified to see Mrs. Mooreland's body (with one of her hand's cut off) stuffed in the oven. Savannah runs to find Tyler, finding him fighting with Victoria instead. She overhears Victoria take the blame for poisoning the sausage, driving Whisper crazy and setting the curtain's on fire, but only to protect Savannah. Victoria is holding a knife, threatening to kill Tyler with it and end the "evil curse". Savannah tries to snatch the knife out of Victoria's hands, only to accidentally stab Victoria with it. Tyler demands that Savannah marry him immediately and after Victoria's funeral, they do. Lucy tries to get Savannah to promise that she will never have kids, so that the Fier family curse is not passed on. She then has a tantrum when Savannah and Tyler try to sleep together and says that Tyler should have married her instead.
Lucy wakes Savannah up a few nights later, stating that she knew the truth. Savannah runs after Lucy in the dark, only to find Lucy's dead body (with one hand cut off) lying near the stairs. Terrified, Savannah tries to find Tyler, ending up in a lab with potions bubbling and Lucy's severed hand on the counter. Tyler is shocked to see Savannah there but then reveals that he was the one who killed all the others. He also reveals that he killed Zachariah, since Zachariah was fighting for the South. Angered, Savannah stabs Tyler with a pitch fork, after which Tyler starts laughing, stating the he is already dead. Zachariah stabbed him in the gut during the war, but since he practices the dark arts, he brought himself back to life. Accidentally, Savannah knocks over a tube filled with acid and the acid burns Lucy's severed hand. That is when Tyler starts to rot, only a skeleton remaining afterwards.
At the end of the book, the old lady (Savannah) turns her head to look at her dead husband's skeleton. She then reads the inscription on her sister, Victoria Gentry's grave.
Characters
- Savannah Gentry is the main protagonist of the story. She is described to be very beautiful, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is the younger sister of Victoria Gentry, whom she thought was jealous of her. Savannah has a habit of saying, "Fiddle" a lot. She is kind, warm hearted and always tries to look at a situation in a positive way. Savannah spent years sitting at Blackrose Manor beside Victoria's grave and her husband, Tyler Fier's skeleton.
- Victoria Gentry is the older sister of Savannah Gentry. She was sharp, edgy and practiced the dark arts. Victoria tries to warn her sister that Tyler Fier's family has had a curse upon them for years, but her sister does not listen. When Victoria tried to kill Tyler, Savannah accidentally stabbed her. She is buried before Savannah and Tyler's marriage.
- Tyler Fier is the evil husband of Savannah Gentry. He was described to be handsome, with black hair and blue eyes. Tyler died in the war when Zachariah Gentry stabbed him in the gut. Since he was a master in the dark arts, though, he brought himself back to life and took his revenge by killing Zachariah. Tyler rots and dies when Savannah knocks over a tube of acid on Lucy Fier's severed hand.
- Lucy Fier is a seventeen year old girl who lives with Tyler Fier in Blackrose Manor. Lucy has black hair, black eyes and wears black clothes. She has a collection of dolls, which look like her and are named after her. Lucy killed her parents by burning them, after which she fell in love with Tyler Fier. At the end of the book, Tyler kills Lucy by cutting one of hands off.
- Mrs. Mooreland is the housekeeper of Blackrose Manor. She is scared of Blackrose Manor herself and warns Savannah to go away while she can. She dies when Tyler cuts one of her hands off and stuffs her into the kitchen's oven.
- Zachariah Gentry is Savannah and Victoria's brother and a soldier in the war. He appears at the beginning of the book, then fights for the South in the war. Zachariah stabs Tyler in the gut, who comes back from the dead to kill him.
- Hattie is a maid hired by Tyler Fier. She is described to be shy and respects Savannah. Hattie has a pet cat named Calico. She dies when a horse tramples her, one of its hooves smashing her skull.