The Puzzler's War
Page 52
“Oh, relax.” Galinak waved his cards in front of me. “I tell you what; let’s play for it. Whoever wins chooses where to go.”
“You always lose, Galinak. You’re terrible at cards.”
“Make it best out of five, then.” The old Troll was already readying the deck.
“Fine, but Galinak . . .”
“Yes.” The cards shuffled slowly in his big hands.
“You know I cheat, don’t you?”
He looked at me and winked. “Of course I know, Twinkle Eyes, I always knew.” He dealt me two cards, and I watched them float toward me until I picked them from the air.
“So why do you keep on playing with me?”
“Ah, as I told you when we first met in the Pit”—Galinak winked at me as he dealt the rest of the cards—“every man needs a hobby.”
Acknowledgements
“Where do you think you’re going, son?” Galinak blocked my way as I headed to the door.
“Eh, don’t know,” I mumbled. “To do things, you know, the book’s done, so I thought I’ll go and . . .”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” This time it was Vincha’s voice from behind me. I glanced at her and saw she was casually flipping her steel combat knife from one hand to the other.
“You know what the Salvationists call a commander who forgets to thank his crew?” Twinkle Eyes mused, crossing his arms. He was quick to answer his own question: “A dead crew commander . . .
“You’re just figments of my imagination,” I said, but my voice should have been surer.
“Heard that, Twinkle?” Vincha took a menacing step forwards, “he called you ‘a figment . . .’”
“I’d be careful with what I would be saying next if I were you.” Galinak smiled as he cracked his knuckles and neck. “Vincha’s still pissed off at you because I got the best one-liners.”
So . . .
I would like to thank my dear friend and agent, Rena Rossner, of the Deborah Harris Literacy Agency, for believing in me from the very beginning and for bearing the brunt of my numerous anxiety attacks. To David Pomerico and Jack Renninson of Harper Voyager US and UK, respectively, and their wonderful teams, for taking me by the hand during the process of editing The Lost Puzzler, and then, despite my protestations, throwing me to the deep end of the pool with this novel, knowing I would not drown.
My sincere thanks to all my dear friends who supported me by tackling the unedited, rough text, pitching in with ideas and suffering through my endless chatter about writing the Tarakan Chronicles. To Nick Brunt, who inspired me so much from the very beginning (and the meanest, shrewdest sorcerer ever). To Dina Roth, who, like the legendary firebird (and a certified superhero), reappeared at just the right moment with the kind of help and support every author dreams about. To Lihi Telem, for her incredible contributions, insight, and support. To Carmit and Ziv Hershman, for being the best friends ever. To Svetlana Simannovsky, Emil Israel Chudnovsky, and Chikako Sasaki for their help with Russian and Japanese. To Amit Zohar, for inspiring me to think of a much better ending. To Uri Rom, for not pulling any punches. To my dear friend and musical partner Ron Regev, for all his help.
About the Author
EYAL KLESS is a classical violinist who enjoys an international career as both a performer and a teacher. Born in Israel, Eyal has travelled the world extensively, and lived in Dublin, London, Manchester, and Vienna, before returning to Tel Aviv. He is the author of The Lost Puzzler and Rocca’s Violin, which was published in Hebrew. Eyal currently teaches violin in the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and performs with the Israel Haydn String Quartet, which he founded.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
the puzzler’s war. Copyright © 2020 by Eyal Kless. 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.
Harper Voyager and design are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers LLC.
Cover illustrations © Christian Darkin/Science Photo/Getty Images (space elevator); © Tenyo Marchev/Dreamstime.com (earth); © Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock (stars)
first edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-279246-4
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-279250-1
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