Ned put it on, and he and Lucy walked back into his room. His parents hugged them both, his mum looking slightly teary as she did so.
“Take as many weeks as you need. We’ll be right here when you’re ready, and Gummy and Arch could do with a couple more friends.”
“Are you ready, Ned?” grinned Lucy.
“No, not even a bit.”
“Don’t worry – you’ve got me. How about you, Whiskers?”
“Scree.”
Finally Lucy looked to a spot just by Ned’s neck and shoulder. “Gorrn?”
There came a tiny “Arr” and what was left of his old familiar peered nervously from behind Ned’s neck. Gorrn’s surviving shadow was barely the size of a finger and would be little use for fighting or biting. It didn’t matter – the Engineer and Medic weren’t really planning on either.
“Son?”
“Yes, Dad?”
“Where will you go?”
“Everywhere, Dad. I think we’re going to go everywhere.”
And with that, Ned Armstrong and Lucy Beaumont, with their mouse and shadow, stepped through the mirror and were gone.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As this book ends, it’s hard to know where to begin. Following Ned on his journey has been both a privilege and a joy and I could not have done it without the incredible team at HarperCollins. As I have come to discover, they are some of the most patient, hard-working and humorous people I have ever met, whether in person or through the impassioned and precise comments of a Word document.
And so to Nick Lake, Sam Stewart, Lily Morgan and Madeleine Stevens – thank you so much for everything you have done for me and the pages of this book – and to Manuel Šumberac for his brilliant cover illustrations and Elisabetta Barbazza for her inspired cover designs. I could not be more grateful for what you do or the way in which you do it.
I thanked my friends and family in The Gold Thief – that does not make their continued support any less important, so thank you again.
Lastly to the four souls that share a house with me – you make me laugh and cry, but mostly laugh. You have done nothing but hinder every word of this book, but only because you’re such exhaustingly good fun. I am as always beyond lucky that you’re mine.
Ned Waddlesworth has always considered his world to be exceptionally ordinary. Until the day he finds out it ISN’T. AT ALL. Because on Ned’s thirteenth birthday he discovers that everything magical he’s ever read about or imagined is REAL.
And, without him, the world will soon be engulfed in monstrous beasts and beings. So with the help of a robot mouse, a girl witch and a flying circus unlike any other, it’s up to Ned to swoop in and save the day!
Click on the cover to read more.
Ned and his family are trying to be ordinary, except for the fact that they AREN’T. AT ALL. Then all the world’s gold goes missing. Which doesn’t really have anything to do with Ned … until it does.
Together with his best friend Lucy, his clockwork mouse and his shadow, Ned must use his growing magical powers to try to uncover a secret that could end them all …
Click on the cover to read more.
About the Author
JUSTIN FISHER has been a designer, illustrator and animator for both film and television. He has designed title sequences for several Hollywood films, branded music TV channels and has worked extensively in advertising. But after many years of helping to tell other people’s stories, he is now following a lifelong passion and writing his own. Justin lives with his wife and three young children in London. He has never worked in a circus but he can juggle. Sort of.
Books by Justin Fisher
NED’S CIRCUS OF MARVELS
NED’S CIRCUS OF MARVELS: THE GOLD THIEF
NED’S CIRCUS OF MARVELS: THE DARKENING KING
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