Renard turned at last to the open laptop lying on the table. ‘Clever,’ he said, pointing at the cloaked image on the screen. ‘Let’s add a little contrast, shall we?’
At the press of a button, the cruiser emerged in fully defined detail.
‘Let’s sail this little beauty over to Monk’s Cove,’ said Simon, stroking the gleaming interior. ‘It would be a shame to get rid of it too soon.’
‘A fine idea,’ Renard agreed, settling himself in the comfortable chairs below deck. ‘You can take the helm.’
Simon was already ascending the polished wooden steps two at a time to the wheel above. Across on the island, he could see a bright flash of light from deep within the hillside.
Swiping the aviators from the unconscious Tanan, Simon set them on his own nose.
It was time to bring the family home in style.
EIGHTY-ONE
They took Matt and Jeannie directly to the hospital in Largs. The cruiser made short work of the crossing, and as Largs came into view, Matt started stirring and making lame jokes. He was so glad to be home, he thought he might burst with joy.
When he’d crawled from the cave opening at the edge of Era Mina, he’d watched Jeannie embrace the peryton, running her hand across its mighty tines. The beast had tilted its head towards them, and then in two long strides it had lifted off the hillside and soared into the clouds, leaving a trail of silver light in the sky.
Simon had been waiting on the beach. They all filled Matt in on what had been happening since he left as they helped him and Jeannie on to the boat.
‘The first thing I want is an Irn Bru and fat chips slathered in sauce,’ Matt exclaimed, after Renard propped him up on the galley bench.
Jeannie grinned. ‘I could use a wee dram myself.’
‘I’m happy to oblige on all counts,’ said Renard, the colour back in his cheeks now that everyone was home safely.
‘You took a terrible risk coming to rescue me,’ Matt said to Em and Zach, as the boat bounced over the choppy bay towards Largs.
‘Maybe you were worth it,’ said Em, squeezing her brother in a tight hug.
‘Ow!’ Matt yelped. Injured, remember!
Em grinned. It’s lovely to have your voice in my head again.
‘What will happen to… her?’ asked Matt with disgust, nodding towards a bunk where Simon and Vaughn had unceremoniously dumped the still unconscious Henrietta.
‘She will be delivered to Sir Charles and the Council to face the consequences of her actions,’ said Renard. His voice was cold.
‘But how do we know Hollow Earth is sealed forever?’ signed Zach, shifting closer to Em.
Matt pulled himself up against the cushions. ‘Because the moment I got the Grendel through the cave wall and into Hollow Earth, Jeannie left The Book of Beasts in the cave behind us.’
‘It will be safer in the Middle Ages than the present,’ Jeannie said.
‘What about the Bone Quill?’ asked Em.
Matt lifted the blanket Simon had draped around him. The quill, caked in dried blood, was tucked inside the waistband of Matt’s filthy jeans. ‘I’m keeping it.’
That’s disgusting!
‘Is that the tapestry that Henrietta stole from the Council?’ Zach signed, staring at the great carpet of fabric on the floor.
‘Stunning, isn’t it?’ said Renard. Matt strained to get a better look. ‘What do you think?’
What Matt saw made him very happy. Instead of Malcolm riding on the black peryton with a crush of bodies at his feet, the tapestry that would be returned to the Council Chamber at the Royal Academy now depicted a spiky-haired girl in Viking armour standing on a jagged rock, firing arrows at a line of skeletal half-faced knights on a beach. In the foreground, a tall leather-clad knight looking a lot like Solon was riding on a majestic white peryton, its mighty wings folded against its haunches, a line of villagers behind him in triumphant procession, making their way towards the monastery of Era Mina.
We hope you enjoyed this book.
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Acknowledgements
Glossary
John & Carole E. Barrowman
An invitation from the publisher
GLOSSARY
The Abbey
The Abbey on Auchinmurn Isle starts its life as a fortress, then a monastery housing a community of monks in the early Middle Ages, developing into a modern home and a place of learning in the twenty-first century. Through time, wars and strife, the buildings and their continuous line of owners have held the islands of Auchinmurn and Era Mina together and kept their secrets safe.
Animare
A person who can animate - bring pictures to life by drawing. The fact of their existence is known only to a few, but there are those who wish to use the power of Animare for their own evil gain. For this reason, Animare live by the Five Rules;
1. They mustn’t animate in public.
2. They must always be in control of their animations.
3. If they endanger the secret of their existence, they can be “bound” (see below).
4. They are forbidden from having children with Guardians (see below), as this can result in dangerous hybrids with an unpredictable mix of powers.
5. Children cannot be bound.
Guardian
A Guardian helps to keep an Animare’s powers and emotions under control. Each Animare is allocated a specific Guardian at the age of sixteen. A Guardian’s way of influencing an Animare’s thinking is known as ‘inspiriting’. Guardians can use this power on other people as well.
Council of Guardians
A body of Guardians who enforce the Five Rules for Animare. Council Members do not always agree about how Animare should be guided. When hybrid children are created, for example, some Guardians believe that their talents should be nurtured, while other believe that binding (see below) is the only safe course of action.
Binding
Binding is a kind of suspended animation. Animare are bound into a work of art as a last resort when they lose control of their powers or endanger the secret of their existence. Binding an Animare can only be authorised by a Council of Guardians, and can only take place when a Guardian and a second Animare are present.
There are five secure vaults all over the world containing bound paintings. One lies at the Abbey on Auchinmurn Isle.
Hollow Earth
The supernatural place where all monsters, demons, devils and creatures from the dangerous, mystical past have been trapped by the medieval monks of the Order of Era Mina (see below).
Founded by Duncan Fox in 1848, the original Hollow Earth Society was designed to prevent the world from knowing about the monsters and imagined creatures locked away in Hollow Earth. The reformed Hollow Earth Society has a very different outlook; to retrieve the monsters, control them and unleash them on the world.
The Order of Era Mina
The monks in medieval Auchinmurn belonged to the order of Era Mina, which had a particular mission: locking away the monsters of the superstitious past by drawing them into a bestiary called the Book of Beasts, thereby reinventing the world as a place of modern enlightenment and learning.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Even before we began writing, we knew how this trilogy would begin and how it would end, but we’d never have made it from there to here without help. To our extraordinary editor, Lucy Courtenay, who knows Matt and Em and the others as well as we do, the biggest thank you… imaginable. Thank you to Buster Books for kicking off the series, and three cheers to Laura Palmer and the folks at Head of Zeus who will travel to the future with us. And, as always, thank you to our agents, Georgina Capel of Capel and Land Ltd, and Gavin Barker of Gavin Barker and Associates Ltd.
Finally, to our spouses, Kevin Casey and Scott Gill, our parents Marion and John Barrowman, and the rest of our family (especially Turner, Clare and Casey) without whom we’d be truly lost, thank you for maki
ng this literary journey much less bumpy and for being the rest-stops whenever we needed one –
CB: Which was a lot.
JB: You can’t have the last words.
CB: Yes, I can.
JB: No, you can’t
Carole and John
2014
ABOUT THIS BOOK
‘It won’t be long now.
Death will come soon enough...’
Twelve-year-old twins Matt and Emily Calder may be divided by time, but they are united in their mission to close Hollow Earth before the monsters inside can destroy the world. The key to success lies with their dazzling Animare talents: they can draw things into life and travel in time through art. But there are monsters outside Hollow Earth as well, intent on taking control of the beasts for themselves. And their own father is the worst monster of all…
Even when you travel in time, time has a habit of running out.
REVIEWS
‘Fast-paced adventure and characters so realistic they could jump out of the pages.’
The Bookbag
‘A captivating children’s fantasy adventure.’
Sunday Express
‘An exciting page-turner awash with devils and demons.’
Scottish Sunday Post
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JOHN BARROWMAN is an actor, a recording artist, a presenter and Carole’s wee brother. He’s best known for playing Captain Jack in the television series Doctor Who and Torchwood and the Dark Archer in Arrow.
CAROLE E. BARROWMAN is an English professor and the Director of Creative Studies in Writing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she’s John’s big sister.
Carole and John love art of all kinds and wish they could draw as well as Matt and Em. They have collaborated on six books together. The Book of Beasts is the third in their Hollow Earth trilogy.
You can connect with John and Carole via:
Carole’s Twitter: @BarrowmanCrime
John’s Twitter: @Team_Barrowman
Carole’s Facebook page: Carole-E-Barrowman
John’s website: www.johnbarrowman.com
Carole’s website: www.carolebarrowman.com
John’s Pintrest: john-barrowman
John’s Instagram: johnscotbarrowman
A LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
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HeadofZeusBooks
The story starts here.
First published in paperback and eBook in the UK in 2014 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman, 2014
Illustrations copyright © Buster Books 2013
The moral right of John and Carole E. Barrowman to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Paperback ISBN: 9781781856352
eBook ISBN: 9781781856345
Typeset by e-type, Aintree, Liverpool
Head of Zeus Ltd
45–47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.headofzeus.com
CONTENTS
COVER
WELCOME PAGE
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
THE STORY SO FAR
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
PART TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
PART THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
CHAPTER SEVENTY
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
CHAPTER EIGHTY
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
GLOSSARY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
REVIEWS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
AN INVITATION FROM THE PUBLISHER
COPYRIGHT