The Curse of the Gloamglozer: First Book of Quint

by Paul Stewart

  The gloamglozer's voice filled his head with no warning. It sent shivers throughout his body.

  I curse you, Quint the apprentice…And you shall live with my curse every day of your life. The curse of knowing that you have set me loose on the world!

  No, no, he told himself, and shook his head. The gloamglozer was gone. It would never return to Sanctaphrax – and what were the chances of ever running into it again? The Edgeworld was so vast. No, it was all over.

  Wasn't it?

  ‘Well?’ he heard Maris saying. She sounded impatient. ‘Will you take me? Yes or no?’

  Quint turned back and, seeing the earnest little face of his friend, burst out laughing. ‘I'll tell you what,’ he said, ‘if I had you with me, the gloamglozer would never dare to come near!’

  ‘Is that a yes, then?’ said Maris.

  ‘Yes, Maris, it is,’ said Quint. ‘When I leave Sanctaphrax you will come with me. You can stand beside me at the helm of a great sky ship and together we shall sail to the furthest corners of the sky.’

  Maris nodded. ‘And perhaps,’ she said dreamily, ‘even further than that.’

  A DAVID FICKLING BOOK

  Published by David Fickling Books

  an imprint of Random House Children's Books

  a division of Random House, Inc.

  New York

  Text and illustrations copyright © 2001 by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any

  form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

  recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the

  written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

  Originally published in Great Britain by Doubleday,

  an imprint of Random House Children's Books, in 2001.

  www.randomhouse.com/kids

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Stewart, Paul.

  The curse of the gloamglozer / by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.

  —1st American ed.

  p. cm. — (The edge chronicles)

  SUMMARY: Apprenticed to the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax, a

  floating city of scholars, gossip, and treachery, fourteen-year-old Quint

  runs increasingly dangerous errands, which eventually bring him to a

  place of gruesome monsters that threaten his life and those of his friends.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-52267-2

  [1. Fantasy.] I. Riddell, Chris. II. Title. III. Series.

  PZ7.S84975 Cu 2005

  [Fic]—dc22

  2004004403

  February 2005

  v3.0