by Joel Ross
“The water’s low enough,” Sally’s voice growled. “Let’s dive in!”
“No,” Ji whispered.
“What?”
“We’re not leaving,” he said, dizzy and weak. “Not yet.”
Sally growled. “What are you talking about, you doolally lizard?”
“Make lots of noise like . . . we’re jumping in,” he told Sally.
For a moment, nothing happened. The steam billowed and the water sloshed. Then Sally shouted: “This way, quick! Everyone dive into the pool! Dive in!”
“Throw in . . . driftwood,” Ji murmured to Roz. “So they hear . . . splashes. And once they think we’re gone, follow Chibo . . . to the street.”
“Why aren’t we leaving?” Roz asked.
“Because we’re not done here,” Ji said. “Not yet.”
45
AS THE MOONS shone down from a cloudless sky, the steam from the vaporized tree covered the city in a dense fog.
Soldiers ransacked every room of Ti-Lin-Su’s estate, and elite squads ventured into the long, reeking tunnel toward the coast. In the Forbidden Palace, bucket crews poured water on the smoldering fires. Work crews returned sleeping terra-cotta warriors to their pedestals. And a young goblin peeked from a canal drain and daydreamed about combs.
Lower on the mountainside, Ji limped toward a neighborhood packed with canals and waterwheels. Roz walked beside him, her face hidden in her hood, holding Nin’s urn under one arm. Chibo held her other hand—then stopped suddenly.
“This is the Oilpress!” he fluted. “We’re a stone’s throw from the tapestry weavers.”
“And this time,” Ji said, “we’re not leaving anyone in chains.”
Sally bounded down from a nearby wall. “The coast is clear.”
“You—” Chibo beamed at Ji, his green eyes glowing. “I told them we’d come back! I knew you’d save them!”
Sally prowled closer. “What happens when we get there?”
“We tear down the looms,” Ji told her, a savage note in his voice. “We release the kids. And we stomp anyone who gets in our way.”
“Then we’ll sneak out of the city?” Sally asked.
“Yeah, we need to hide for a while. Until it’s safe to search for Ti-Lin-Su.”
“Hiding won’t be easy,” Roz rumbled. “We’re not exactly human anymore.”
“That’s true,” Ji told her. “But we are exactly free.”
Chibo fluted a laugh, Sally growled in triumph—and Roz’s smile still looked like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.
Ji kicked his tattered sandals off his clawed feet. He didn’t know if they could escape the realm; he didn’t know if they could break the spell. But he knew one thing: he’d never be a servant again.
And deep in his heart, a dragon roared.
Acknowledgments
MANY THANKS TO Caitlin Blasdell, Alyson Day, Renée Cafiero, Alana Whitman, Lindsey Karl, Brian Thompson, Tessa Meischeid, and Joel Tippie.
About the Author
JOEL ROSS is the author of The Fog Diver, which received the Cybils Award and the YouPer Award from the Michigan Library Association and was named to the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. He is also the author of The Lost Compass as well as two World War II thrillers for adults (Double Cross Blind and White Flag Down). He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, Lee Nichols, who is also a full-time writer, and their son, Ben, who is a full-time kid. To find out more information, go to www.fogdiver.com.
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Books by Joel Ross
The Fog Diver
The Lost Compass
Credits
Cover art © 2017 by Brian Thompson
Cover design and title type by Joel Tippie
Copyright
BEAST & CROWN. Copyright © 2017 by Joel Ross. 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.
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ISBN 978-0-06-248459-8 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © August 2017 ISBN 9780062484611
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FIRST EDITION
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