With a rush of wind, we lifted off the ground, Logan’s takeoff wobbly but fast. We careened around the tunnel, the monster’s head swiveling and snapping as it tried to catch us, one large bony claw swiping at us in an effort to knock us out of the air. Logan dove low, skimming the ground as he dodged the creature, whose face took on a pinkish hue as we reached the exit.
Logan grunted with exertion as we flew upward, out of the tunnel.
“I think I’ve got this now,” Logan said, flying more smoothly as we gained height.
Over his shoulder, I could see the bone monster emerge—the skeletal head followed by six pairs of bony legs and a massive tail, which swung in anger as the monster raised its head, roaring at the sky in fury.
I shut my eyes and gripped him tightly, my fear of heights—and, you know, nightmarish bone monsters from another dimension—wrecking havoc on my equilibrium.
Just look at Logan. Just look at him and everything will be okay.
But when I opened my eyes to look at him, the expression on his face told me that everything would not be okay. I followed his line of vision and gasped in horror.
The sky was gray—not the shade of an overcast or stormy day, but the color of death, the sickly hue of corpses and illness. Hanging high in the center of the sky was the sun. At least I think it was the sun—a meaty red orb visibly pulsed, as if someone had torn a hole in the skin of the sky, revealing the putrid flesh beneath. Somehow, this bloody crimson sun gave a blush-colored light to the Dark City, which spread out beneath us.
Elongated dark skyscrapers pierced the sky, almost gothic in their gracefully curved spires and elegant points. Winged creatures, much like Logan, flew around the twisted spires, dipping and swooping low, the flapping of wings a low hum that settled in my ears.
In the center of the darkness, where Central Park should have been, was instead a glacial wasteland, a stark ice-blue dead zone packed with clusters of brittle, frozen trees.
My eyes sought out my neighborhood, and even though I’d known it from the map Rego had shown me, I still gasped when I saw that it was on fire, shimmering with smokeless red-and-orange flames whose heat radiated out in undulating waves.
“I will get you out of here,” Logan vowed. I pulled my eyes from the wretched landscape, meeting his determined ones as we hovered in place.
Logan shifted his grip to hold me more securely. His eyes turned back to the city that sprawled beneath us, his head lowering as his eyes targeted an area to the south.
And then we were off, Logan rapidly flying toward what would have been the Upper West Side. The nightmarish landscape blurred by as Logan picked up speed, the warm wind chapping my tearstained cheeks as Logan spread his wings, gliding downward like a hawk, flapping his wings to slow his descent as he came to stop on top of a building, jogging forward with the force of his landing.
He leaned down to let me slide out of his arms, my feet settling somewhat unsteadily on the rooftop, which looked like any other rooftop on the Upper West Side. It was covered in black tar, and the entrance to the stairwell was a nondescript red-painted door, housed in a little structure made of weather-beaten brown bricks. Wordlessly, Logan took my hand, leading me across the roof. He yanked the door open, the hinges creaking and causing me to jump at the noise. I peered inside at the dark stairway, before looking at Logan incredulously.
“It’s just a stairway,” Logan reassured me as he craned his neck to check out the shadowed staircase before taking a few steps down.
“Luserna Illuminabit,” he said, repeating the spell he had used to conjure light when the auditorium had been cast into darkness, and golden orbs of light raced ahead of us, illuminating the dark staircase. Logan pulled out his sword, holding it in one hand and gripping my hand with his other.
“Just a stairway?” I repeated, eyeing his sword.
“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” he muttered, before turning to face me. I was standing a few steps above him, making us eye level.
“I swear it to you, Paige. I will get you home, if it’s the last and only thing I do.”
With that, Logan turned around, and I let my love lead me down into the darkness.
* * * * *
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
YOU’D THINK WRITING a book just requires an idea and a laptop, but the truth is, an author needs—and heavily relies on—his or her support system to get those words down. I’d like to give thanks to the following people who supported me on this journey:
Natashya Wilson and the brilliant team at Harlequin Teen. I have to especially thank my wonderful editor Annie Stone for her exceptional insight and guidance, and Tara Gavin, who gave me the opportunity to live my dream with Spellbound. I’ll be forever grateful.
My fantastic agent, Lynn Seligman. I’m so lucky to have you in my corner.
Dawn Yanek. Paige and Logan would probably still be on a roof somewhere without you. Thank you for your invaluable advice, edits and, most of all, your friendship.
My husband, Dave. Thank you for your support and patience when I live in my head and leave my shoes in the living room as I get to know my characters. Mom, you read my first stories and instilled in me a love of reading and writing, and belief in myself. My Ponyville girls, Mindy Monez and Catharine McNelly, you keep me crazy and sane in all the best ways. Melinda Oswandel, Ben Trivett, you guys rock. Kate Treadway, KP Simmon, Hannah McBride, Lisa Mandina and Alice Marvels, thanks so much for your support and kindness and, of course, 140 characters of entertainment. Brielle and Shaelyn, I can’t wait to watch you grow up and see what books you love. I love you girls.
Q&A with CARA LYNN SHULTZ
Q: What inspired The Dark World? How did you come up with the idea—and what came first, the characters or the world?
A: I grew up in New York City, and I wanted to continue writing stories that were set in my hometown. I adore my city. But setting a book in New York can be limiting—there’s only so much creative license you can take when everyone knows what New York looks like. Around the time I was wrapping up my last book, Spellcaster, and pondering ideas for a new series, I had an ocular migraine, which is really trippy, bizarre and more than a little scary. It makes your vision appear fractured. I told a friend that it looked like a portal to another universe was opening, and joked about how, with my luck, it wouldn’t be a doorway to a word full of unicorns and magic kittens but a doorway to “another dimension full of demons that want to eat my face and steal my TV.” And that’s when the final scene of The Dark World popped into my head.
With this in mind, I started thinking more and more about an alternate version of New York City—where I could still write about my beloved hometown, but change it to suit my needs. I was obsessed with the mental picture of a distorted, grotesque version of New York, and I described the skyline with the pulsing red sun and corpselike gray sky to my cousin Jennifer, who told me, “Get some characters there, and I’ll read that.” The next step was figuring out how to get characters into that world. I wish The Dark World had a sexier origin story, but that’s how it happened. A New Yorker with a migraine. Maybe my next asthma attack will give me something good, too.
Q: You’ve already written two novels, Spellbound and Spellcaster. Was The Dark World harder or easier to write after having a few books under your belt? Was your process different this time?
A: The Dark World was easier in that I had a better understanding of the publishing process. I knew the timeline of what to expect and when to expect it. And I knew some of my writing pitfalls at that point. The hard part was learning new characters and discovering what makes them tick. But that’s also the most fun part.
My process remained the same, though. I’ve always listened to music when I write. And I prefer to write at night—2:00 a.m. is when I really get on a roll.
Q: What inspired the different kinds of demon powers in the book? Where did the idea for Regents come from?
A: In the early drafts of The Dark World, there was only one kind of demon, and they all had the same powers. But as I started writing, I had too much fun with Blaise and her powers, and she spawned the concept of fire demons. After that, I started breaking out the demons into groups. When it comes to the demons who draw their power from nature, their powers are a little more obvious—e.g., fire demons can conjure fireballs. But for the demons who derive their power from emotions, I referenced extreme human reactions. Take a rage demon, for example. He has a single-minded focus: to obliterate his target, seemingly unaware of the destruction he causes, or the damage he does to himself, in trying to achieve his goal. Ever see someone when they’re in a senseless fit of rage punching a wall? I amplified that for the rage demons.
As for Regents—originally they were that lone race of demons terrorizing my poor characters. An all-powerful demon race is scary and fascinating, especially the more we learn about them. And as for their name, well...Regents sounds regal. And Regents are also the names of standardized tests that I took in high school that were stressful and held way more power over my high school career than they should have. In fact, I had to take the French Regents and Latin Regents on the same day. That’s six hours of language testing. You can’t tell me that’s not just a little demonic.
Q: I’m guessing you draw a lot of inspiration from your personal experiences in New York City, since you’ve lived there all your life. Did you go to a high school like Holy Assumption? Are there any landmarks in The Dark World that are from your past or your childhood?
A: I always thread real-life references into my books. My high school, Dominican Academy, was similar to Vincent Academy—which is Paige’s first school, and also Emma’s school from Spellbound, except my high school was all girls. So the mentions of specific things that Paige did when she was in her first school—like hanging out on the steps of the Met—are very real things we did in high school. And I had to nod to the carousel in Central Park, because my grandparents used to take me there when I was a little kid. Paige lives in Hell’s Kitchen, where I grew up. In fact, Paige lives on the street my cousins lived on when we were teenagers. All the restaurants and specific meals Paige mentions are real—especially when it comes to ordering from your bodega. The relationship between New Yorkers and their bodegas is a very special and sacred thing.
Q: Without giving away any spoilers, can you tell us a little about what’s next for Paige and Logan?
A: They’re about to take a dangerous journey through the Dark City. Secrets will be revealed. Loyalties will be questioned. Things will get heated (in, ahem, a good way). And someone’s world will shatter.
“Captivating, mysterious, fun and deep…for readers of John Green or any realistic YA authors, I would highly recommend this new wonderful novel.”
—Fresh Fiction
Five Strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost. Don’t miss one of the most anticipated debuts of 2014, Let’s Get Lost (August 2014) by Adi Alsaid.
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ISBN-13: 9781460326671
THE DARK WORLD
Copyright © 2014 by Cara Lynn Shultz
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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