Lady Weirdwood smiled, a twinkle in her eye. “The world is overstuffed with heroes who would break the rules in order to be promoted. You have striven to follow every rule ever since a poor decision on your part cost the life of your mentor, Rose.” She nodded at Wally and Arthur. “When these two thieves showed up, you decided to break the rules again. But this time I believe you were judicious in your decisions. You broke the rules, not to serve yourself but because you thought it would save more lives.”
Sekhmet bowed her head. “We lost Huamei.”
“Yes, we did,” Lady Weirdwood said. “But you were also facing a threat unlike anything we’ve seen. All of our Wardens combined would have struggled to take down Alfred Moore and his dragon-bone Quill … And for that, I really must insist that you accept this Wardenship.”
Sekhmet nodded solemnly. Lady Weirdwood swore her in.
When they were finished, Arthur cleared his throat and stood tall.
“I haven’t forgotten you, Mr. Benton,” Lady Weirdwood said. “Unfortunately, I cannot extend the same honor I gave your friend. You made a difficult situation worse with your antics, and you lied. You have a long way to go before I would consider you to be Novitiate material. Besides, I’m told you have a father in Kingsport to watch after.”
The color went out of Arthur’s face. This was clearly the last thing he was expecting. But he swallowed and nodded.
“Still,” Lady Weirdwood said, “you deserve commendation for your final heroic act.” She held out her hands and Weston handed her a book. “This appeared in our Bookcropolis early this morning. I present you with the final installment of Garnett Lacroix. Within its pages you’ll find the text of your grand adventure. We plan to make copies, and the book should be distributed to Kingsport’s bookstores as early as next week. Your hero will not be forgotten.”
Arthur took the book and traced the silver lettering on the cover. The Adventures of Garnett Lacroix and His Merry Skeletons: The Monstrous Hospital by Valerie Lucas.
Lady Weirdwood smiled. “I figured Miss Lucas was due some credit for all her hard work.”
“Thank you, Lady,” Arthur said and wiped a tear from his cheek. “Does this mean I have to leave?”
“I’m afraid it does,” Lady Weirdwood said.
Arthur gave Wally a searching look. “Are you going to stay?”
Wally hesitated, then looked at Lady Weirdwood. “How long do I have to decide?”
“You have as long as it takes Amelia to escort Arthur back to Kingsport,” she said. “Then this Manor will head west. It seems the Rook was funding the Order’s efforts to fight us in the Mercury Mines. Now that those funds have dried up, they’ve grown desperate, using a train to collect Fae-born for a twisted traveling zoo.”
Arthur’s eyes went wide at this. Then darkened. Breeth didn’t have to read minds to know what he was thinking. Arthur Benton wouldn’t be a part of that adventure.
Amelia opened the door and gestured out. The boys took one last look at Lady Weirdwood before exiting. Sekhmet gave Arthur a small wave goodbye. Breeth couldn’t tell which of them looked more miserable.
* * *
“This is it,” Amelia said, taking the handle to the entrance of the Manor. She looked at Wally. “Are you staying or going?”
Wally glanced from Arthur to Breeth, who inhabited the front door.
“I could sure use a good lock pick to help me feed those orphans,” Arthur said sheepishly. “Y’know … if you want to.”
“And I,” Breeth said, “could use someone to talk to and translate everything I say. It turns out no one here speaks ghost creaks.”
Wally placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Arthur. I’m going to stay.”
Arthur swallowed and nodded.
“Thank you for your service, Mr. Benton,” Amelia said. “Take care out there.”
She opened the door.
Kingsport was not waiting on the other side.
Instead, a desert stretched to the horizon. Golden dunes rose and fell under a blindingly bright sky.
“What’s this?” Amelia said, her eye wide with shock.
A hot gust of air blew sand around their feet. The three stared into the desert, baffled, until the door to the forest room burst open.
“Amelia!” Ludwig said. “You are needed in ze Var Room.”
Amelia slammed the front door shut. “What’s happening? What’s wrong with this door?”
“Ze Scarab laid eggs,” Ludwig said. “Zey are scrambling the Manor’s doors. Ve must make an expedition into ze lower levels of the Abyssment and catch zem.”
Amelia touched her eye patch. “Glycon help us.”
Arthur looked at Wally. This was bad. But it also meant they were both still part of Weirdwood’s adventures.
A smile crept across Arthur’s lips, and it was mirrored on Wally’s.
AFTERWEIRD
Charlie limped toward the Stormcrow. In his pocket was the letter that had been waiting for him when he’d woken up at the hospital, a line of stitches in his side. That big black bird had gotten him good, but his chain mail had saved his life. The doctors said he’d be as good as new in a week or two.
The Stormcrow Pub had been all but destroyed. But every member of the Black Feathers had descended from the four quarters and were working to restore it. While some repaired the hole in the roof and replaced the front windows, Disembowelin’ Joe was digging a hole. Next to it was a coffin. Charlie didn’t have to ask who was inside. The Rook was to be buried in the pub he loved so dearly.
Charlie thrust the letter toward Joe. “I need you to tell me what this says.”
“Oh,” Joe said, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Charlie. New Rook wants to see ya.”
“I’m the new Rook, you idiot,” Charlie snarled. “I was second-in-command.”
Joe looked at the rook-painted door with fear in his eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Charlie stomped to the back and pushed open the office door. His eyes went wide. Liza was sitting at her father’s splintered desk.
“Oh good,” she said. “Charlie.”
She was holding that evil Quill, sleek and black and veined blue.
Charlie steeled himself. If he could survive being lanced by a giant talon, surely he could wrestle a pen from a little girl.
He stepped up to the desk, casting a shadow over her. “I never heard the Rook nominate his daughter.” He cracked his knuckles. “Seems to me he’d prefer you remain safe and sound outside of the business.”
“You didn’t know my father like I did,” Liza said, unflinching.
She wrote something with the Quill, and her eyes flashed a dark yellow. Black feathers fluttered across her face. For a moment, Charlie wasn’t sure if he was looking at a girl or a monster. A monster that could pierce right through his chain mail. Charlie stepped back, trembling.
“Now,” Liza said, setting down the Quill and retaining her human shape, “are you going to be my bodyguard? Or does this need to go another way?”
Charlie composed himself, knelt, and muttered the Black Feathers’ oath. Then he held out the letter, unable to keep his hand from shaking. “Someone sent me this.”
Liza took the letter and read it. Concern crossed her brow.
“What’s it say?” Charlie asked.
Liza sighed. “To whatever vile scum decides to take the Rook’s place as head of the Black Feathers—Your gang will no longer use children as thieves. You will release them with adequate pay or else face the same consequences that befell your previous boss. Signed, LW P.S. You may tell the children that they have Wally Cooper and Arthur Benton to thank.”
Charlie stood. “We’re ignoring that, yeah?”
“No, Charlie,” Liza said, crumpling the letter. “I happen to agree with this. We’ll let the kids go. With back pay.”
“But … Arthur Benton. He killed your father.”
Liza’s eyes flashed yellow again. “What?”
Charlie told her
the events on the night of the attack. When he finished, Liza’s mouth was drawn taut. Almost beak-like.
“Very well,” she said, collecting herself. “We’ll deal with Arthur when we find him. For now, we have more pressing matters.”
Charlie’s forehead wrinkled with concern. “What’s the plan … boss?”
Liza picked up the Quill and spun it between her fingers as she walked to the waxen woman the Rook had kept in the corner.
“My father spent the past few years trying to tear down something called the Veil so he could resurrect my mother,” Liza said. She drew her fingers down the woman’s cheek and smiled, lips sharpening. “I’m going to finish his work.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, thank you to John Cusick, who brought together this ragtag expedition. To Michael F. Stewart, who provided the necessary survival tactics, and to Russ Uttley and Sacha Raposo for all of the maps and books and sage advice. To Eric Deschamps for giving this volume a cover worthy of the adventure and to Katie Klimowicz for making me look more presentable than I actually am. And of course, to Anna Earley for capturing uncanny sketches of the flora and fauna we encountered along the way.
Extra executive thanks to Paul Pattison for funding the expedition and making sure we had the tools required for such a long and complicated journey. To Christian Trimmer for shining a light on our efforts and deciding the world deserved to read about them. To Brian Geffen for weaving complex spells to untangle the haunted wood and to Rachel Murray for hacking through the thorny stretches. To that roguish pensmen Christian McKay Heidicker for using his wit and wordsmithery to aid me in creating an accurate and entertaining record of these true events. And finally, thank you to Luke Minaker, who showed me the hidden entrance to Weirdwood and answered all of my magical, historical, and anthropological queries.
I’ll see you all on the next adventure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Professor William Shivering lives in a house by the sea with three cats and a one-eyed raven named Glinda. When he’s not writing true stories about fake worlds, he enjoys walking the cliffs and conversing with the moon. He’s the president and founder of CASPR (Coalition for the Appreciation of Shades, Phantasms, and Revenants), a nonprofit that provides assistance to disembodied peoples. Professor Shivering has an assistant named Christian McKay Heidicker, though he seldom if ever takes Christian’s writing suggestions. Mr. Shivering is rarely cold. You can sign up for email updates here.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Anna Earley is a Midwestern girl living life with a flair for the fantastic along with a coiled, corn snake companion named Moxy. Ever since childhood she has loved creating whimsical creatures and vibrant worlds and characters. That passion led her down the path to become an illustrator. She believes that art has a unique ability to communicate and tell stories that excite the imagination and speak to the soul. When she isn’t drawing, Anna can be found writing, studying history and mythology, roaming the woods, or listening to an ever-growing collection of music. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
Henry Holt and Company ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on William Shivering, click here.
For email updates on Anna Earley, click here.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
1. Wally
2. The Manor
3. Arthur
4. The Girl without Shape
5. Greyridge
6. Weirdwood
7. Breeth
8. The Portal
9. The Mage and the Paladin
10. The Porcelain Doll
11. Mirror Kingsport
12. The Mouse’s Funeral
13. The Gentleman Thief
14. The Battle of the Corvidians
15. Alfred Moore
16. The Murderous Tale
17. The Fool Dreamer
18. Graham
19. The Author in the Mirror
20. The Dragon’s Wake
21. Fighting a Fiction
22. Arthur the Author
23. Monster Greyridge
24. Two Thieves
Afterweird
Acknowledgments
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Wasabi Entertainment Inc.
Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866
Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, New York 10271
mackids.com
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shivering, William, author. | Early, Anna, illustrator.
Title: Thieves of Weirdwood / William Shivering. ; illustrated by Anna Early.
Description: First edition. | New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2020. | Series: Thieves of Weirdwood ; Book 1 | Summary: Wally Cooper and Arthur Benton, who resorted to thievery to pay off family debts, unwittingly find themselves at the center of a battle between the Fae and the mages tasked with protecting humanity.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019019333 | ISBN 9781250302885 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250302892 (ebook) | ISBN 9781250248183 (audio book) | ISBN 9781250248176 (audio download)
Subjects: | CYAC: Fantasy.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S51774 Thi 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019019333
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by email at [email protected].
First hardcover edition 2020
eBook edition April 2020
eISBN 9781250302892
Thieves of Weirdwood Page 26