by Ryan Graudin
From Ryan, personal thanks to Kate Armstrong, Corrie Wang, Roshani Chokshi, Megan Shepherd, Laini Taylor (who had many encouraging things to say after she heard us brainstorming this book in the castle kitchen), and the rest of the château crew: Jim Di Bartolo, Katherine Webber, Alywn Hamilton, Laure Eve. The Strauss family. The Graudin family. Raiden. David and Sabriel—all of my love, always. Soli Deo Gloria.
From Amie, personal thanks to Meg Spooner, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu, Leigh Bardugo, Michelle Dennis, Kacey Smith, Nic Crowhurst, Soraya Een Hajji, P. M. Freestone, Kate Irving, Lili Wilkinson, Nic Hayes, Ellie Marney, Liz Barr, Eliza Tiernan, Kate Armstrong, the Roti Boti gang, and my Aussie retreat crew. The Kaufman family. The Cousins family. Jack. Brendan and Pip—I would brave anything to find you.
From both of us, undying thanks to the readers, reviewers, librarians, teachers, and booksellers who share our stories with the world. You changed our lives first as readers, and now as authors.
And finally . . . thank you, for picking up this book and journeying to the World Between Blinks with us. We’ll see you in the sequel!
Excerpt from Ice Wolves
Read on for a sneak peek at the first book in New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman’s electrifying fantasy series, ELEMENTALS!
RAYNA WAS CONFIDENTLY LEADING THEM IN the wrong direction. Anders hurried through the crowd after her, ducking as a woman nearly sideswiped him with a basket of glistening fish. The stink washed over him like a cloud, and then he swerved away, leaving it behind as they ran through a stone arch.
“Rayna, we’re—”
She was already turning the corner and running out across Helstustrat, nipping in front of a pair of chestnut ponies that were hauling a wagon full of barrels over the cobblestones. Anders jogged from one foot to the other, waiting as they rumbled past, then took off after his twin sister again. “Rayna!”
She could hear him—he knew that when she flashed a quick grin over her shoulder, white teeth gleaming in her brown face. But she didn’t slow down, her thick black braid bouncing as she jogged. He was stuck trying to catch up again. This always happened.
“Rayna,” he tried, one final time, just as they rounded the corner to see the roadblock ahead, manned by guards clad in gray woolen uniforms. Without breaking stride, Rayna whirled back the way they’d come, grabbing Anders by the arm and yanking him with her around the corner. His heart thumping at the close shave, he leaned back against the cool stone wall.
“Guards,” she said, tugging her coat straight.
“I know! They’re on every street on the north side of the city,” he told her. “Checking everyone who comes through.”
Her gaze flicked back toward the corner. “Was there another dragon sighting? Or are they just doing extra patrols before the Ulfar Trials?”
“There was a dragon in the sky just last night,” he replied. “I heard them talking about it in the tavern when we were climbing down from the roof first thing.” He didn’t point out that Rayna had missed that information because she’d been too busy telling him their plans for the day. “They said they saw it breathe fire and everything.”
That silenced even Rayna for a moment. Dragons had been gone from Holbard for ten years now, but lately they had been seen in the sky overhead. Anders and Rayna had seen one themselves six months before, on the night of the last equinox celebrations.
It had breathed pure white fire as it circled above the city, then vanished into the darkness. An hour later, a set of stables in the north of the city was ablaze with the ferocious, white-and-gold dragonsfire that was almost impossible to put out, leaping from place to place faster and fiercer than normal flames.
By the time the buildings had been reduced to ashes, the dragon was gone, and with it the son of the family that lived above the stables. Dragons always took children, the stories said. The weak, the sick, and the defenseless.
“Maybe the guards think the dragon from last night could still be spying in the city, hiding in human form,” Anders said. “Or planning to start a fire.”
Rayna snorted. “What, and they think if they ask people, they’re just going to admit they knew where a dragon was but decided not to tell anyone?”
He nodded, lowering his voice to do his best impression of an upstanding citizen. “Yes, Guard, in fact I hide scorch dragons on my roof, because I want to be roasted alive and I don’t believe in public safety. I feel a little bit guilty about it, and I’ve been meaning to confess to somebody, but I wasn’t sure who would want to know.”
“At least you’d be warm.” She giggled, kicking at a slushy, melting pile of snow.
He returned to his own voice, her giggle helping chase away his own nerves, as he had hoped it would. “You never know if you don’t ask.” But though he smiled along with her, even the words put a twitch between his shoulder blades. Scorch dragons. They were the one thing every person in Holbard knew to fear, whether they were locals or traders from across the sea. There were new rumors every day that dragons were near the city again. Rumors they’d burned a farmhouse to the ground just last week, the farmer’s family still inside.
“How far south do we have to go to dodge the guards?” Rayna asked, jolting him from that thought. It went without saying that they’d avoid them. Guards asked questions like “Where are your parents?” and other inconvenient things related to adult supervision.
“At least ten streets,” he replied. “A couple of them were in wolf form, and I think they smell it if you’re worried.”
“Ten streets? That doubles the distance to Trellig Square! Anders, if you knew we were going the wrong way, why didn’t you stop me?” She was all indignation, hands on hips.
“Well, I—” But he gave up before he started. Maybe he should have tried harder. It sort of was his fault they’d come so far the wrong way. “I’m sorry,” he settled on. But she was already moving again, heading south.
“We’ll go over the rooftops.”
He was tall and gangly to her short and strong—though the twins shared the same black curls and warm brown skin, in almost every other way they were different. So being taller, Anders boosted Rayna up until she could grab the guttering and haul herself onto the nearest roof. Then he scrambled onto a barrel and climbed after her.
When he straightened up, he could see the rooftop meadows of Holbard spread out before them. Each square of grass was at least twenty houses long and twenty wide, rising and falling with the pitch and slope of the roofs.
The rooftops were covered in bright patches of wild-flowers, red fentills tucked down in the gullies, yellow-and-white flameflowers bobbing in the breeze on the slopes, as well as the occasional herb garden, where someone had a window big enough to climb out and tend to their plants.
Thanks to the street children of Holbard, wherever there was only an alleyway between two stretches of grass, rather than a wide street, a plank of wood was almost always propped in place to serve as a bridge. You could travel half the city up here without ever needing to set foot on the ground.
About the Authors
(left) Photo of Amie Kaufman by Christopher Tovo
(right) Photo of Ryan Graudin by David Strauss
AMIE KAUFMAN & RYAN GRAUDIN are two bestselling, award-winning authors united by their love of history, adventure, magical stories, and lost places. Ryan has explored the ruins at Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, and Amie has picnicked in the lost Roman city of Ostia Antica. When they learned about a vanishing island off the coast of South Carolina and the lighthouse left rising alone from the waves, they knew they had a story to tell. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, daughter, and part-dingo dog. Ryan lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, daughter, and part-wolf dog. Neither of them have met a Tasmanian Tiger yet . . . or have they? You can find Amie and Ryan online at www.amiekaufman.com and www.ryangraudin.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Copyright
Quill
Tree Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE WORLD BETWEEN BLINKS. Copyright © 2021 by Ryan Graudin and LaRoux Industries Pty Ltd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2021 by Kevin Keele
Cover design by Catherine San Juan
* * *
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020944584
Digital Edition JANUARY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-288226-4
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-288224-0
* * *
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com