INTRODUCTION

You are being hunted.

Right now, at this very moment, there are unspeakable creatures whispering your name and lusting for your blood. If you weren’t already aware of this, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. I don’t relish the task, but you must know what you’re up against. There are other dangers, besides: sudden, rapid aging; faulty time loops; mercenary peculiars. Normals whose fear of the unknown—­and you—­can quickly turn to anger, and violence. If you’re aware of your own peculiarness, be in no doubt: Others are, too. And be they normal, wightish, or hollowgast, they want nothing good for you. They want to exploit you, subjugate you, even steal your very soul.

There was a time when all we had to worry about was being burned at the stake. It was a simpler world then.

Not to say there aren’t pleasures in being peculiar. On the contrary, there are many. But since my sworn duty as an ymbryne is to keep you safe, I do tend to focus on the terrifying and terrible. So long as I’ve got your attention, there are other things you might like to know about who we are and how we live. To survive as a peculiar, you must understand our enemies. But to thrive, you must understandus, and our unique society.

I might have called this book So You’re a Peculiar, Now What? It’s meant to be a handbook for new peculiars—­or people who’ve only just realized they’re peculiar—­but could also serve as a refresher for peculiars who haven’t seen the inside of an ymbryne’s classroom for many a year. It’s an attempt to collect, for the first time in one place, all the information necessary for a peculiar to live in an unfriendly world. And for peculiars who have not had the benefit of an ymbryne’s instruction, it will teach you something of our history, our customs, our secrets, our most famous and infamous members, and other general but essential knowledge.

That said, our world spans the globe, and there is much that even we ymbrynes still do not know about it. There are worlds yet to be discovered, even within our own. This is far from a complete and definitive guide; such a thing is impossible, unprintable; it would fill as many pages as there are grains of sand in the Sahara. I hope this introduction to peculiardom is merely a jumping-­off point for your own explorations and discoveries, and that one day, Dear Reader, you will write a new chapter of your own.

Very peculiarly yours,
Alma LeFay Peregrine