BALANCE. BALANCE. EVERYTHING IS BALANCE. This dark tale is given by me, Stevie Paddock, from the revelations of my deceased aunt Hepzibah Mather, who was the slave and mistress of both her father and brother. For my father is the son of Jayhaya. Here the grim history of the sorcerer that has haunted the village of Old Street and whom the Catholic farmers have battled for three hundred years, is at last revealed. How he arose out of the wizard family of the Mathers, how he raped my grandmother and thus begot John Paddock, how he gained his power by a horrible feast, and many other details till now unknown about our past history. Make the Sign of the Cross before you read this, for this is a tale of the rising of a sorcerer.