From the depths of the spirit And the chasms of the darkness Eight precious stones Eight matters of the soul For Mattie who was eleven and just a frizzy red-haired fifth grader, magic wasn't even a remote possibility. Not in the basement of Sears in Hackensack, New Jersey. But October 10, 1968, would end very differently than it had begun. A mysterious Spyglass would choose Mattie as its mistress and hurl her friends Eddie and Geeta and old Mr. Herman Biddle across the treacherous eight precious stones pursued by the evil Uri Gneezy. Mr. Biddle's mind was rapidly turning the events. Mattie had thrown the Spyglass and it had incinerated. It was done. He had seen it send off the death sparks, hadn't he? "Mr. Biddle..." Mattie said, her voice tight with fear. She held up her hand. Mr. Biddle's kind face reverberated in shock. It was the Spyglass firmly in Mattie's hand, glowing a pleased and self-satisfied glow. The eyes from within looked at Mattie. It had found its Mistress; no one could keep them apart. Eddie and Geeta knew something was wrong. Mattie was in danger. They felt it. "Give me my Spyglass " bellowed an old man with a snake-like head who had suddenly appeared and seemed to be slithering towards them. What Mattie, Geeta and Eddie couldn't have told you was what their souls registered in a cold grasp to their hearts. This was evil. Evil in its elixir. Evil so pure that goodness had no chance against it. Mr. Biddle suddenly thrust his palm up and thundered, "Uri Gneezy. It has begun. Again." Biddle flicked his wrist and he, Mattie, Geeta and Eddie vaporized into a darkness known as the Space-Between-Time. "Mattie," Mr. Biddle whispered, "you must know good from evil, for you have become the Mistress of the Spyglass." Mattie wanted to cry, this was so important. Why had the Spyglass chosen her? The curse of Gneezy's evil vow rang in the darkness where they hid. "I will take back my Spyglass and I will kill you all."