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SNEAK PEAK

Readers Are Tearing

Through the Pages of

Katniss and Tris would

approve.
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This book will not disappoint.
USAToday.com

A tightly woven, action-packed

story of survival and adventure,
Seeker is perfect for fans of
Game of Thrones.
TAHEREH MAFI, author of the
New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series

Secrets, danger, and romance

meet in this unforgettable
epic fantasy.
KAMI GARCIA, #1 New York Times
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& author of Unbreakable
I got swept up by the story and didnt want to
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recommend this book!
The Fictional Reader
All in all, it was an amazing read and GIVE
ME THE SECOND BOOK! NOW! Please!?
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Seeker stands alone as a tale of loss, PTSD,
and a quest for personal justice and
understanding. FanBoyComics.net

This fantasy-scifi mash-up is part adventure,

part coming-of-age story, and is one of the
coolest, most unique stories weve read in
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I really enjoyed the story, the world, the
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The Eater of Books!
Action-packed, suspenseful,
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John Hart

Shinobu
MacBain

Quin
Kincaid

Shinobu grew up with

Quin on the Scottish estate.
Hes spent much of his life
training to become a Seeker
and is known as the best
fighter among the three
apprentices.

Quin was raised on the

Scottish estate and has spent
more than half her life
training to become a Seeker.

John was raised in London

and came to Scotland at the
age of twelve to begin his
Seeker training. Though he
started his training late,
he is intensely committed to
proving himself and taking
the Seeker oath.

He is the son of

Her mother,

Johns mother,

Mariko MacBain

Japanese by birth, she died when

Shinobu was only eight-years-old.

His father,

Alistair MacBain

lives with Shinobu on the

Scottish estate where he is also
an instructor of Seeker apprentices.

Fiona Kincaid

also trained on the Scottish

estate, but she never became
a Seeker.

Catherine Renart
was also a Seeker. She died when
John was seven. Before her death,
she built the airship Traveler with
Johns grandfather.

Her father,

Briac Kincaid
is the chief instructor
of Seeker apprentices.

Gavin Hart

now in his eighties, and increasingly

mentally unstable, he is in charge
of the familys business affairs.

TRAVELER
Arwen Elys Dayton

TRAVELER
Arwen Elys Dayton

De l acort e Press

# Seek er Ser i e s
Seek er Ser i e s . c o m

De l acort e Press
Dayt_9780385744126_2p_all_r1.indd 3

10/19/15 8:19 AM

KEEP READING FOR A SNEAK PEEK . . .

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright 2016 by Arwen Elys Dayton
Scottish Estate map copyright 2015 by Jeffrey L. Ward
Fox and ram icons copyright 2016 by Shutterstock
Bear, boar, eagle, dragon, horse, and stag icons copyright 2016 by John Tomaselli
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of
Random House Childrens Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Visit us on the Web! randomhouseteens.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-385-74412-6 (hc) ISBN 978-0-375-99149-3 (glb)
ISBN 978-0-385-37858-1 (ebook) ISBN 978-0-399-55166-6 (intl. tr. pbk.)
The text of this book is set in 11.6-point Maxime.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

ATTENTION READER: THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED ADVANCE EXCERPT.

Chapter 1

Quin

Shinobu? Quin asked when she saw him stirring. Are you awake?
I think so, he answered slowly.
Shinobu MacBains voice was thick and groggy, but he raised his
head to look for her. It was the first time hed moved in several hours,
and Quin was relieved to see him conscious.
She carefully tucked the leather book shed been clutching into
her jacket pocket and crossed the darkened hospital room to where
Shinobu lay, in a bed that looked too short for someone so tall.
Even in the dim light, she could make out the burns on both of his
cheeks. They were mostly healed, and his head was now covered with
a thick, even growth of dark red hairbut she was stuck with the
memory of the singed and blood-caked hair the nurses had shaved
off when he was admitted for surgery.
Hey, she said, crouching next to the bed. Its good to see you
awake.
He tried to smile, but it ended up as a grimace. Its good to be
awake . . . except for every part of my body hurting.
Well, you dont do anything halfway, now, do you? she asked,
1

letting her chin rest on the beds railing. Youll help me even if it
means throwing yourself off a building, crashing an airship, and getting cut in half.
You jumped off that building with me, he pointed out, his voice
still thick with sleep.
We were tied together, so I didnt have a choice. She managed a
smile, though the memory of that jump was terrifying.
Shinobu had been in the London hospital for two weeks. Hed
arrived close to deathQuin had brought him by ambulance after
their fight on Traveler and the airships crash into Hyde Park. Shed
been in this room, walking restlessly and sitting and sleeping in its
uncomfortable chair, ever since. She had, in fact, turned seventeen
several nights previously, while pacing between his bed and the window at midnight.
Behind Shinobu, the hospitals monitors beeped and whirred,
glowing lights traveling across their screens in shifting patterns as
they measured his vital signs. They were the familiar backdrop of
Quins days.
She lifted his shirt to look at the deep wound along the right
side of his abdomen. The nearly fatal gash hed received from her father, Briac Kincaid, had healed into a tender purple line, seven inches
long. It had been sewn up so neatly, the doctors said the scar might
disappear altogether, but at the moment the wound was still swollen
and, judging from Shinobus expression, terrifically painful whenever
he moved.
Aside from that injury and the burns on his face, hed entered the
hospital with a badly broken leg and several crushed ribs. The doctors
had bathed the wounds liberally with cellular reconstructors, which
were forcing him to heal at an accelerated rate. There was one drawback: the process was rather excruciating.

Quin brushed her fingers over a lump beneath his skin near the
sword wound, and Shinobu caught her hand.
Dont make it drug me, Quin. I want the doctor to take those
things out. Im sleeping too much.
To help with the quick-mending wounds, hed been implanted
with painkiller reservoirs near his worst injuries. If the pain became
too intense, or if he moved too vigorously, or if someone pushed on
the reservoirs directly, they released a flood of drugs, which usually
knocked him out. That was why hed been mostly unconscious for
the past two weeks. This brief conversation was already one of the
longest periods awake hed had in days, and Quin took it as a very
good sign. The doctors had told her his recovery would happen this
wayslowly at first, and then accelerating unexpectedly.
Youre refusing drugs now? she asked him archly. Shinobu had
been on very friendly terms with illicit substances back in Hong
Kong, a habit hed only recently broken. Youre full of surprises tonight, Shinobu MacBain.
He didnt laugh, probably because that would have hurt, but he
pulled her closer with the hand that didnt have an IV running into
it. Quin eased herself onto the narrow bed, and her gaze instinctively
swept the chamber. The room was large, but bare of furnishings except for the bed, the medical machinery, and the chair in which Quin
had been living. Her eyes stopped on the large window above the
chair. They were on a high floor of the hospital, and through the glass
was a panoramic view of nighttime London. Hyde Park was visible
in the distance, emergency lights still erected over the broken bulk
of Traveler.
Shinobu pushed his shoulder into hers on the bed, bringing her
back to him. Her mind went to the journal in her pocket. Perhaps he
was awake enough to see it.

He whispered, There are things to say, Quin, now that Im awake.

You kissed me on the ship.
I thought you kissed me, she responded, teasing him lightly.
I did, he whispered seriously.
That kiss . . . shed replayed it in her mind hundreds of times.
Theyd kissed and held each other during the nightmare, whirling
crash of Traveler, and it had been right. They had been so close as
children. Theyd remained close during all of their Seeker training,
even when John came to the estate and altered the dynamics of their
lives. But it was not until theyd met again in Hong Kong, changed
and older, that shed seen him for what he wasnot just her oldest
friend but the other half of her.
Is it too strange, the two of us? she asked before she could stop
herself. She wasnt sure of her footing in this new and unfamiliar territory of intimacy.
Its so strange, he replied immediately. Quin didnt like that answer at all, but Shinobu drew her hand up to his chest before she
could respond, kissed the palm, and whispered, Ive wanted to be
with you for so long, and now here you are.
The words and the weight of his hand filled her with warmth.
But . . . all those girls from Corrickmore . . . she said. There had
always been lots of girls in Shinobus life. Hed never once given the
impression he was waiting around for her.
I expected those girls to make you jealous, but you never noticed, he told her. He didnt say it bitterly; he was simply opening his
heart. All you cared about was John.
She responded softly, You took care of me anyway. When John
attacked the estate . . . and in Hong Kong . . . on Traveler . . . Youre
always taking care of me.
Because youre mine, he whispered back.

She glanced at his face and saw a sleepy smile appearing. He

moved her hand closer to his heart, held it there. She turned toward
him on the bed, thinking it might be time to kiss him again
Ow! he gasped.
What happened? Did I
Itsat your hip.
Sorry! Thats the athame.
Quin scooted away from him and drew the stone dagger from its
concealed location at her waistband, where it had just been crushed
into Shinobus hip bone.
Oh, there it is, he said, and he took the ancient implement from
her hands. Ive been thinking about it a lot while Ive been lying here
half-asleepor dreaming about it, maybe.
The athame was about as long as her forearm and quite dull despite its dagger shape. Its handgrip was made up of many stacked
circular dials, all of the same pale stone. This particular athame belonged to the Dreads. The Young Dread had handed it to Quin after
the crash of Traveler, and it was somewhat different from the other
athames she and Shinobu had seen during their Seeker training,
more delicate and also more complicated.
Shinobu shifted the stone daggers dials with practiced ease, his IV
tube bobbing as it trailed off his left hand. It has more dials, so you
can get to more specific locations than you can with other athames,
dont you think?
Quin nodded. Shed spent hours in the quiet of the hospital room
examining this athame. As on all athames, a series of symbols was
carved on each dial. By rotating the dials, you could line up seemingly endless iterations of those symbols. Each combination was a set
of coordinates, a place a Seeker could go using the ancient tool. The
additional dials on this particular dagger meant one could choose

locations with much greater precision. During their fight on Traveler,

the Dreads had used it to enter the moving airship. It was a feat that
would have been impossible with any other athame. None but the
athame of the Dreads could access a moving location.
Watching Shinobu study the dagger so intently and rotate the
dials so nimbly, Quin decided that there was no reason to wait; he
was alert enough to hear more. She pulled the leather book from her
jacket and held it out to him.
Is that . . . ? he asked.
It arrived this afternoon.
It was a copy of the journal that had belonged to Johns mother,
Catherine. Quin had had the real journal with her when she and Shinobu had parachuted onto Traveler during that crazy night two weeks
ago, but shed lost itor rather, John had found it and taken it during
the frenzied confrontation on the airship.
What Quin was holding was a copya copy shed made back in
Hong Kong weeks ago, before they came to London. Her mother,
Fiona, had been with them on Traveler during the crash, and then in
the hospital. Fiona had returned to Hong Kong a few days prior, and
the first thing shed done upon arriving was send the copied journal
to Quin. Shed even bound the pages in leather, turning them into a
new journal in their own right, an accurate copy of Catherines original in size and shape.
Quin flipped through it, with Shinobu watching over her shoulder.
Some of it is so old, I cant read it well, but the parts I can read
are about the different Seeker families.
Families besides ours?
Yes, but our own families too, she answered.
While Quin and Shinobu were growing up on the Scottish estate, theyd understoodtheoreticallythat there had once been
many other Seeker families. But theyd only ever met members of
6

their own two housesQuins, the house with a ram for its emblem,
and Shinobus, the house of the eagle. They knew that John came
from another Seeker house. But Johns family had already fallen
apart and mostly disappeared before his generation, and she and
Shinobu hadnt given his ancestors, or anyone elses, much thought.
Quins father, Briac, had even removed the insignia of other houses
from the estate.
Other Seeker families had felt like distant history. They were part
of the old tales Shinobus father had told them as kids, about Seekers who had unseated terrible kings, hunted killers, driven criminals
out of medieval lands, and been the force of much good in history.
If . . . , Quin thought angrily, any of that was true. Theyd grown up
believing that Seekers were noble, but Briac had changed their world.
Hed used their ancient tools and once-honorable abilities to turn
Seekers into little more than hired assassins, collecting money and
trading on power, and Quin couldnt help but wonder: How long has
it been like this?
We know Catherine and John belonged to the house of the fox,
she said, turning pages until she reached one with a simple, elegant
drawing of a fox at the top. Beneath this picture were paragraphs in
small, neat, girlish writing, which continued for several pages. These
notes are about older members of the house of the fox, Quin explained, running her finger down a list of names and dates and locations. Catherine was writing about her grandparents and ancestors.
Shes trying to account for where everyone was, and where they all
went.
She. You mean Johns mother, Catherine? Shinobu asked.
Quin nodded. This is her writing. See?
She flipped to the very beginning of the journal. Beneath the
front cover, on an otherwise blank page, was a small inscription in
the same hand:
7

Catherine Renart, a traveler

A traveler?
Thats what she says. Her handwriting is everywhere in the journal. Though theres also writing from a lot of other people in the
earlier entries.
So . . . you get this book a few hours ago, and the first thing you
check is Johns family? he asked, his head bumping softly into hers
on the pillow to take the sting out of his words.
She rolled her eyes and poked him gently with her elbow. Its
because Im still in love with him. Obviously.
I knew it, he whispered.
He pulled her closer. Quin thought about closing the book, but
Shinobu was looking at it intently, and she wanted him to see it while
his mind was sharp, before he drifted off again.
I read about Johns family first because his mother took the best
notes on her own house, she explained, trying to ignore, for the moment, each place where her leg and arm and shoulder were touching
Shinobus. But it looks as though Catherine was trying to keep track
of all the Seeker families for a long while. She wanted to know where
theyd all gone.
And where did they go? Shinobu asked.
Thats still the question. Quin fanned through the journal.
When Ive read all of this, maybe well get some answers.
Quin.
Shinobu struggled to sit up a bit, then gave up and lay back on the
bed. He took her hand again and looked at her seriously.
Quin, what are you doing? he asked.
She glanced down at the journal, closed it. I thought we should
follow

We arent Seeker apprentices anymore, he told her. Weve gotten away from your father and from John. When I get out of the hospital, we dont have to be anything. We could go somewhere together
and just be.
Quin was quiet for a time, thinking about this. That simple future
sounded lovely when Shinobu offered it. He had set the athame on his
chest, with his left hand over it, protectively. Quin put her own hand
on it as well, feeling the cool stone and the warmth of his hand. Why
couldnt they go off somewhere and just livelive as ordinary people?
Their life as Seekers would never be the life theyd expected as children;
that future had been a lie. So why not become something else?
But she knew the answer already.
The Young Dread gave this athame into my keepingfor a while
at least, she told him. She wanted me to have it.
That doesnt mean we have to use it, he responded gently.
I think maybe it does.
He regarded her for a long moment, then asked, What is it you
want to do, Quin?
Shinobu looked tired, but his eyes held that intensity that was
particular to him. Quin understood that whatever she told him, he
would give her his unwavering loyalty, just as hed always done.
She whispered, I was raised to be a Seeker. A real Seeker. One
who finds the hidden ways between, finds the proper path, and makes
things right.
Tyrants and evildoers beware . . . Shinobu murmured. That had
once been the motto of Seekers, and it had been a mantra for Quin
and Shinobu when they were apprentices. I wanted that to be true,
he said.
Quin flipped to the final page of the journal, where Catherine had
printed the three laws of Seekers:

A Seeker is forbidden to take another familys athame.

A Seeker is forbidden to kill another Seeker save in self-defense.
A Seeker is forbidden to harm humankind.
They were laws her father hadnt even bothered to teach her; she
had learned them only later, from the Young Dread. Yet this was
the original code of Seekers. Breaking them had been punishable by
death.
We were true once, she whispered, her fingers tracing the words.
She thought of an afternoon by a fire, when the Young Dread
Maudhad spoken to her about history. There have been many,
many good Seekers. Now my father kills who he wantsdoes it for
money. John thinks hes fighting for his familys honor, but hes willing to be a killer like Briac.
Yes, Shinobu agreed.
So, when did Seekers become like Briac? And if there were more
of us, where have they gone?
She flipped to the journals first pages. There the handwriting
was ancient, so cramped and full of ink blots that Quin could make
out very littleexcept for the word Dread, which occurred frequently. These early pages were apparently letters and notes written
by others in the distant past, and then pasted into this book by
Catherine.
The first half looks like its about the Dreads. Closer to the beginning of Seekers. And then there are Catherines own entries, searching for other Seeker houses, tracing where they might have gone.
You think the journal will point you to when we went wrong, he
said, guessing her thoughts exactly.
I want to discover where these dishonorable Seekers began.
Shinobu slid a finger down the side of the stone dagger as though

10

measuring it or perhaps contemplating all it stood for. Then he whispered, So you can make things right?
Yes, she said. If they can be made right.
She could feel Shinobu nod, his head moving against her own, but
she sensed that his burst of energy was fading.
I want that too, he told her.
She closed the journal and laid it on his chest. His hand covered
hers where it lay atop the book, his skin almost feverish. Their long
conversation was straining him.
Do you remember where we first began? he murmured close to
her ear.
Yes, she said softly. It was in the meadow on the estate. You
kissed me there when we were nine.
His eyes were half closed, but his face formed itself into a smile,
and she felt his sleepy gaze upon her. I didnt think you remembered
that.
I thought kissing was disgusting then.
And what do you think now?
She felt a smile pulling at her own lips. I could give it another
chance.
Shinobu slid his arm beneath her and pulled her to him. Quins
lips met his, and she discovered that shed been waiting two weeks for
this. He turned his body to put his other arm around her, and as he
did, he let out a pained cry.
Shinobu?
His arms fell limp, and his head rolled back onto the pillow. It
took Quin a moment to understand that the reservoir of painkiller
in his gut had released a dose when hed twisted toward her. He lay
next to her with his eyes closed, a smile on his lips, one of his arms
still caught beneath her.

11

She leaned her head against his and laughed softly. Im sorry.
It was late, and shed been awake for a very long time. After tucking the journal and athame away, one in her jacket and the other
at her waist, she pulled herself closer to him and let her own eyes
drift closed.

12

Chapter 2

Quin

John was there, in Quins dream. He was so clear, standing across

from herit couldnt really be a dream, could it? She could see every
detail of his face and body, outlined in moonlight.
It was cold. They were outside. His breath was clouding the air.
And she felt the deep chill herself, sinking into every muscle. Yet
somehow she was able to ignore the discomfort, keep the sensation
of cold distant, as though it were of so little importance, she could
pretend it werent there. John was disregarding the frigid air as well;
he wore only a thin undershirt and shorts, and he wasnt shivering.
He stood a good distance away, yet Quin could discern a small
wound near his shoulder, as if her eyes could see much farther
in this dream than they did in normal life. Briac shot him on the
airship, she remembered. And thats where the bullet went in. She
had a very similar wound of her ownone that John himself had
given her, back when hed attacked the Scottish estate and everyone
on it.
She wondered why she felt no hatred as she looked across at John.
Hed attacked her, hurt her and those she loved so many times in
13

order to get what he wanted. But in this dreamif it were a dream

she felt neither hatred nor love, merely tolerance.
John began to run, and she was throwing objects at him, her arms
moving with a speed almost too fast for her mind to follow. She felt
her muscles respond to her own mental commands like lightning,
throwing and throwing with a swiftness and force shed never had in
waking life

He lied to us, a childs voice said from somewhere nearby. Our

masters not here.
His athames here! a different voice hissed close to Quins face.
Look! How can that be?
Are you going to get it?
A smell like dead rodents filled Quins nose.
Her eyes flew open. She was lying on the hospital bed next to
Shinobu, and someone was there, leaning over her. Dirty hands were
sliding toward the waistband of her trousers.
Quins arms came up the moment she understood what was happening, and she knocked the intruder away. He staggered back, but
quickly lunged for her again. Quin grabbed his shoulders and held
him off as his hands ripped at her waist.
Give it back! the attacker hissed, his closeness bringing the
overpowering smell of dead animals to her nose again.
He was after the athame. Shed tucked it out of view down her
waistband as she fell asleep next to Shinobu, but the handle was visible, and the intruder was about to get hold of it.
She pushed harder against his shoulders, keeping him at bay.
Stop! he spat.
He was strong. He changed tactics and reached for her throat
instead.
14

He was younger than shed thought at first, maybe fifteen, with

bright, cruel eyes, the color of coal, and matted hair that might have
been dark brown but was so dirty it appeared gray. His fingers scrabbled around her neck as she struggled to thrust him off.
Quin scanned the room to take in the full setting of the attack.
Someone else was there. A boyyounger than the first, maybe twelve
years oldwas dancing from foot to foot in the dim nighttime lights,
waiting for his chance to help. He looked fair and freckled but just as
dirty as his companion.
The older boy leaned his weight against Quins arms, and his
hands slid fully around her throat. He looked down at her with anger
and elation, as though choking people were one of his favorite pastimes and he couldnt wait to get started. His lips drew back, revealing filthy, black teeth.
Quin slid sideways, trying not to knock into Shinobu, who was
still drugged or asleep. Her feet came off the bed, twisted up, and
made contact with the teenaged boys chest. She kicked him away so
violently that he hit the IV stand and crashed with it to the floor. She
sprang to her feet.
Shinobu! Quin hissed. In one swift motion, she pulled her
whipsword from its concealed spot beneath her shirt and cracked
it out. She rotated her wrist to force her weapon into the shape of a
long, broad sword, and the oily black material flowed into place and
solidified.
The younger boy, the freckled one, jumped at her, then away as
she slashed her weapon at his face. Neither boy showed any surprise
at the appearance of her whipsword.
What? Shinobu mumbled, rubbing at the spot on his hand
where his IV tube had been sharply tugged when the stand went
down.
The smaller boy pulled out a weapon, and Quin saw with shock,
15

a moment too late, that he had his own whipsword. She raised her
sword to block him but entirely missed the childs attack. Somehow
the boys sword slid right by her own. She reeled back, her arm cut
just beneath the elbow.
Ha ha, the boy said, tripping backward to get away as Quin
came at him again. The older one lurched unsteadily to his feet.
They had whipswordswere they Seekers? Quin had to guess not:
Their fighting style was bold but very wild. And they were so dirty
and disheveled. Yet what would she know, really, of other Seekers?
Her father had hidden their very existence.
Whoever these boys were, their skills were unexpectedly good. In
a quick assessment, Quin decided they werent better than she was;
she would best both of them eventually. But Shinobu lay unguarded
on the hospital bed, where they could injure him if they took an interest. She had to end this fight quickly.
Help! she called as she moved toward the door. Help!
Shinobu was up on one elbow, blinking fiercely, trying to understand what was happening. Quin willed the boys not to notice him.
Both attackers came for her as she neared the door. When they
lunged simultaneously, she saw why their whipswords had slid by her
beforethe boys weapons were half the usual length. Even slender
and fully extended, as they were now, their swords were no longer
than Quins forearm, and the tips were not as sharp as they should
have been. They were like whipswords that had been inelegantly cut
in half.
So together you have one whipsword? she asked, swinging wide
and fast to block both of them. Are they two halves of the same
sword? Are you each half a person as well? She was continuing to
speak loudly, as though she were a fighter who liked to bait her opponents, when in truth she was trying to rouse Shinobu and also the

16

hospital staff on the other side of the door, and to keep the boys eyes
focused on her. If youre two halves of the same person, couldnt at
least one of you learn how to wash? Their odor had filled the room.
Least were not a thieving girl, the little one said, smiling nastily and displaying his own dirty teeth, which, like the older boys,
appeared to have been smeared with soot. Give us the athame our
master should have!
The older boy slashed at her with vicious skill, but Quins larger
weapon made quick work of his blows, and she sent him sprawling
into his partner.
She turned for the door.
And found her father staring back at her.
Briac Kincaid was hiding in the dark alcove at the rooms entrance,
barricading the closed door, his own whipsword drawn. A handful of
multicolored sparks danced around his head.
Sparks.
Before she could think any of this through, Briac had cracked out
his sword and raised it.
Quin wavered.
And then the two boys were on her from behind. Her hesitation
had cost her an important moment
Then a metal tray crashed into the older boys head, sending him
staggering. Shinobu was there, his IV tube trailing off his left arm in
a long tangle. He swung the tray a second time, cracking the older
boy across the temple and sending him down. The smaller one struck
back, and Shinobu used the tray as a shield as the half-sized whipsword clanged off it again and again. Quin could only guess at how
much of the narcotic was being pumped into Shinobus blood with
each impact.
She saw her fathers sword swing toward her, and turned to parry

17

the blow. Briac was still blocking the door. There were muffled yells
from the other sidehospital staff trying to get in.
Stupid wife! Fiona! he spat. Give the athame back.
If it was strange to find her father here, it was stranger still to hear
him address her that way.
Shinobu smacked the younger boy directly across the face with
the tray, felling him, but Shinobu himself collapsed as well.
Quin made a quick decision. She leapt away from her father, who
seemed glued to the door, and grabbed Shinobu by his shirt. Hauling
him across the room, she positioned the bed between them and their
attackers. The window was directly behind her.
The two boys were struggling up onto their hands and knees, trying to get vertical for another attack, though they had obviously been
knocked almost senseless.
Hold them off! she said to Shinobu, who was attempting to stay
upright. Do your best.
Hospital staff pounded on the door, but Briac managed to keep
it shut.
Quin drew the athame from her waist.
Dont you dare! came a yell from the older boy at the sight of
the athame. Hed made it up onto his knees, was shaking his head as
though trying to clear it. Dont use his athame! Youre not allowed.
I cant keep standing, Shinobu told her. Hed listed to one side.
Your implant is drugging you, she breathed. But adrenaline can
overcome it. Think about fighting them!
The athames dials were different from what she was used to. She
adjusted them as well as she could.
Both boys had made it up onto their feet. Shinobu balanced himself upright, and, swaying, he kicked open the wheel locks at the foot
of the bed. Then he rolled the bed directly into the boys.
Quin flicked her whipsword, making it small and thick, turned,
18

and smashed the window. It shattered, allowing cool night air to pour
into the room.
She pushed down on one side of the athames blade with her
thumb, and a long, slender piece of stone came free of the blade
with a gentle click. This was the athames lightning rod, its partner
and necessary complement, the object that would bring the ancient
dagger to life.
She struck the lightning rod against the athame, and a deep, penetrating vibration filled the air. Furniture began to rattle. The pounding on the door stopped as the vibration spread beyond the bounds
of the hospital room.
Stop! yelled the younger boy, grabbing the bed to drag himself
to his feet. Its not yours! Youre a thief!
Quin reached the trembling athame through the broken window
and drew a wide circle in the air below the ledge. Where she traced
that circle, the athame cut through the fabric of the world as easily
as a fin cuts through ocean water. In its path, tendrils of dark and
light were exposed, and these snaked away from each other to create
a doorway, an anomaly, humming with energy. Through the doorway
was blackness.
Climb up!
She pushed Shinobu at the open window, even as she kept her
own eyes away from the view. The forty-story drop was making her
dizzy.
The door shook behind Briac, beneath renewed assaults from outside. Quin saw her father struggling to keep it closed.
Shinobu climbed up into the window frame with difficulty, Quin
steadying him from below.
Have you got your balance? she asked. She avoided thoughts of
him plummeting all the way to the ground.
Yes, Im all right, he breathed. Then he tumbled forward and
19

fell directly into the anomaly. Quins own stomach dropped as she
watched him do it. Then she jumped up into the broken window. The
London streets far below appeared to tilt and sway.
Im scared of heights, she realized. No, Im terrified! It was a new
fear, and entirely inconvenient at this moment.
The older boy was reeling across the room toward her, his dark
eyes furious.
I will put you in your place! he cried.
There was a loud bang, and both boys turned toward the hospital room door. Briac had at last been shoved aside, and uniformed
guards were streaming into the room.
Quin turned toward the night, briefly glimpsing the endless lights
of London stretched out before and below her. Then the view was
swimming, and her stomach was lurching. She was falling through
the cold air, falling through the anomaly she had carved from here
to There.

20

Chapter 3

Shinobu

The drugs were floating Shinobu away. Hed slid out the window and
managed to fall into the right spot, his whole body making it through
the anomaly. Now he was There, out of the well-lit darkness of the
London night and surrounded by this other darkness, blacker and
more barren.
He was supposed to say the time chant, to keep himself focused.
Knowledge of self, knowledge of . . . he began. What came next?
Quin? he croaked.
Im here, she answered, grasping his shoulder. The feel of her
hand helped a little. Hold on to me, she whispered. Im a little
dizzy.
Shinobu was more than a little dizzy, but he followed Quins
arms upward to her shoulders and held on to them. That position
reminded him of their last moment atop the skyscraper in London,
harnessed together, just before theyd jumped and parachuted onto
Traveler. Hed left his friend Brian on the buildings roof. Shinobu
imagined Brian standing alone, with the building swaying gently

21

beneath his feet, wondering what in the world had happened to Shinobu after hed jumped.
Now in the blackness, he could almost hear Brian saying, Where
have you gone, Barracuda? I had to find my way back to Hong Kong
on my own.
Blinking against the drugs, Shinobu wanted to answer, I dont
know exactly where I am, Sea Bass.
But then he did know. In the blackness, he could see the outline
of her face in the faint glow of the athame she held in her hand. This
athame, the athame of the Dreads, glowed more brightly than the
others hed seen, and its vibration was much stronger, as though it
held and directed more energy than any other.
Say the chant! he told himself. Before its too late.
Knowledge of self, he managed.
Knowledge of self, Quin was whispering next to him, knowledge
of home, a clear picture of where I came from, where I will go, and the
speed of things between will see me safely back. Knowledge of self . . .
Shinobu hoped those words would focus Quins mind on the time
stream theyd left behind, so she wouldnt lose herself There, where
time did not really exist, so she might pull them both through
because Shinobu was going to be of no use at all this time.
The air around him sounded wrong, as if he were, at once, in a
tiny soundproof room and in an enormous cavern. Quin let go of
him, and hed already lost himself enough to worry that she was gone
forever. Then he saw her fingers moving along the athames dials. She
was right next to him.
Where will we go? he asked. His voice was thin and stretched
out. How long had they been here? Moments? Hours?
Hong Kong, she whispered. I hope Im choosing Hong Kong.
I should breathe, he thought. Am I breathing? He inhaled raggedly.
He could hear the faint clinks of the athames dials being moved into
22

place, but the sharp little noises arrived at his ears as distant, slow
thuds. Time was slowing down. There was another vibration, low and
rumbling.
Her hand was beneath his arm. Quin, youre touching me, he
thought. That was enough, at the moment, to keep any fear at bay.
Her closeness was an anchor in the darkness, drawing him back to
himself. Time speeded up as she carved another anomaly. The blackness drew apart, snakes of light and dark coiling into each other,
forming the border of a new circular doorway, its energy flowing outward, from the darkness around them into the world beyond.
There were trees and a morning sky out there. All at once, he
could see Quin clearly, her dark hair and eyes, her lovely, fair face,
and the lips that had kissed him just before he fell asleep.
Can you walk? she asked, pulling him across the seething border.
Of course, Shinobu answered, and he promptly fell down.

23

Chapter 4

John

They had swept some of the debris out of the castle courtyard, and
now John stood at one end of the space, facing the Young Dread.
She was in the middle of the yard, looking back at him, her body
completely still.
It was well past midnight. The moon was low in a partially clouded
sky, casting long, dark shadows across the ground and outlining the
crumbling remains of the castle.
And it was cold. The temperature was not low enough for ice, but
nearly so.
The Young Dread, or Maud, as she now allowed him to call her,
had ordered John to strip to his undergarments and remove his shoes.
Whenever John began to feel slightly comfortable with his training
regimen, Maud found a way to make him uncomfortable again. His
breath came out in billowing clouds as he waited for her first command. Yet John didnt shiver. In the past weeks, hed learned to concentrate well enough that he could stop his body from shaking with
the coldfor a while at least.
Against all expectation, the Young Dread had sought him out
24

after the fight on Traveler, and had told him she would complete his
Seeker training. When Briac had refused to train him further, John
had tried to force Quin to help, but hed succeeded only in hurting
her and others. He was prepared to hurt, or even to kill, if it was
absolutely necessary. You mustnt be scared to act, his mother had told
him, all those years ago, as she was dying in front of him. Be willing
to kill. And yet it was better, of course, if he didnt have to go after
Quin. The Young Dread had offered him an alternative.
Shed asked, in return, for his full dedication to the training. He
intended to give it and to prove himself an excellent student. He was
eighteen, older than Seeker apprentices usually were. This was his
chance, at last, to learn to use an athame and to become the man his
mother and grandmother had expected him to be.
The wound beneath his left shoulder, where Briac had shot him
on board Traveler, throbbed painfully, but it was halfway healed already, thanks to the finest medical treatment his grandfathers fortune could buy. This was good, because Maud didnt accept pain as
an excuse for poor performance.
The Young Dread herself was dressed similarly to John, only a
loose undershirt and simple short trousers on her slender, wiry frame.
Whatever her demands upon John, she was no less demanding of
herself. He could see her lean muscles outlined with shadow. She,
of course, was not shivering either. She held her body in such tight
control, John imagined she would freeze to death before she allowed
herself to tremble. Hed come to understand that she preferred discomfort; it kept her sharp.
Mauds hair was tied up behind her head, and the youthful planes
of her face looked both terrible and splendid in the moonlight, a
statue of a vengeful goddess on the threshold of springing to life.
At her feet was a pile of objectsrocks, rusted metal horseshoes,
clods of dirt, broken pieces from old weapons. They had collected
25

these items for days, scouring the estate when his training had begun.
And now the Young Dread was using them against him, over and
over and over again.
Sitting on the ground near the heap of objects was Johns disruptor.
Maud had left it in sunlight all day to gather energy. Now its iridescent metal shimmered in the glow of the moon, making it look almost
pretty, when in truth it was a weapon designed specifically to instill
horror. It resembled a small, wide cannon with a barrel ten inches
across that was covered with hundreds of tiny openings. When it was
strapped across the users chest and fired, swarms of electrical sparks
rushed from those holes to encircle the head of its victim. And if those
sparks caught you, if you failed to get out of their way, they twisted
your thoughts and destroyed your mind. You became disrupted.
John knew the Young Dread would not fire the disruptor at him
tonight. Shed told him that would come only later in his training.
Still, shed brought it here to the castle ward and set it near her where
he could see it easily. Terror of the disruptor had been his downfall
when training under Briac Kincaid, and so Maud wanted him to become used to its presence. He tried not to look, but his heart beat
more quickly whenever his eyes happened upon it. He thought of his
mothers words: Do what has to be done. Somehow he would overcome this fear.
Begin! the Young Dread called.
John kicked his muscles into motion and started running around
the perimeter of the courtyard, which was littered with stones, dead
branches, and chunks of the ruined castle. He stared ahead, taking in
everything before him and everything in his peripheral vision without moving his eyes. Maud had taught him the focus of the steady
stare, which he used now. He could see her at the corner of his right
eye, her body turning to follow his progress, turning so slowly and
smoothly that her feet did not appear to be shifting at all.
26

Now! she said, giving him a warning.

And then she began to throw things. Her arms movedso fast
that he saw only a blurand a dark object was hurtling toward him.
John pivoted to his left, using his speed to turn full circle, as a
rock whistled by his head and crashed into a boulder at the edge of
the yard.
Now! she said, another warning, and a new black shape flashed
toward him.
John leapt atop a piece of rubble and pushed off, carrying himself high into the air. Whatever shed throwna horseshoe maybe?
winged his calf. He landed hard, feeling the shock of the objects
impact only when his feet touched the ground. Pain seared up his
leg. But still he ran.
Pain is nothing, he told himself, keeping his eyes ahead and his
vision still. Pain is nothing. My mother went through much worse. My
grandmother showed me much worse . . .
Maud wouldnt call out to him again; the following object would
come without warning. He was turning the corner at the south end
of the yard when he saw the next flash of motion. He threw himself
down and rolled, as a large rock soared through the air. Before he was
back on his feet, another came. He leapt up, barely pulling his legs
out of the way in time. And then another object, and another.
Very good! Maud called. Much improved!
John knew better than to slow down or look at her. Already a new
barrage was coming his way.
If youd done this well in your training with Briac, she pointed
out, you wouldnt have had to betray Quin.
The words were said as she said everythingevenly, steadilyand
yet they stung as though shed slapped him. She was trying to distract
him, and it was working. I didnt want to betray her. I loved her. But she
wouldnt help me.
27

Order your copy of

TRAVELER
BY

Arwen Elys Dayton

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