The Demon's Covenant (Volume 2) (The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy, Band 2) - Hardcover

Rees Brennan, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416963812 ISBN 13: 9781416963813

Verlag: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

When the Obsidian Circle expresses interest in her brother, a teen turns to the notorious Nick and Alan for help in this thrilling second book in the Demon’s Lexicon urban fantasy trilogy set in the unforgiving magical underground of London.

Mae Crawford has always thought of herself as in control, but in the last few weeks her life has changed. Her younger brother Jamie has suddenly developed magical powers—drawing the attention of the ruthless Obsidian Circle, whose new leader, Gerald, wants Jamie to join their ranks—and will stop at nothing to recruit him.

As secrets unravel and loyalties are tested, Mae turns to the enigmatic brothers Nick and Alan for help, but even their formidable skills may not be enough to withstand the power-hungry magicians closing in. With the fate of her family and friends hanging in the balance, Mae must navigate a world of shifting alliances, supernatural danger, and deadly bargains.

Can she find a way to outwit Gerald’s trap and protect those she cares about, or will the forces of darkness claim them all?

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Sarah Rees Brennan is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Unspoken and The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy. Her book In Other Lands was a Hugo Award finalist. She lives in Ireland. Visit her at SarahReesBrennan.com.

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1
Magic on Burnt House Lane

Any minute now,” Rachel said, “something terrible is going to happen to us.”

The area around Burnt House Lane was deserted at this time of night. The cracks in the pavement that Mae hardly noticed by day had turned into shadowy scars along the cement, tracing jagged paths that led into the dark of yet another dead-end alley. They peered down into the alley and made the silent mutual decision to walk on extremely fast. Mae was in the lead.

“Come on, this is an adventure.”

Rachel muttered behind her, “I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said.”

Mae had to concede that this might not have been one of her better ideas. She’d just wanted something different now that she was finally able to leave the house, something a little exciting, and a party in an empty warehouse near Burnt House Lane had seemed the perfect plan.

A streetlamp above slowly winked its single evil orange eye, and night swallowed them at a gulp. The light sputtered back on with a grudging crackle and night spat them up, but by then Rachel and Erica had both walked into Mae’s back and were huddling together.

Rachel was shivering. “I think this may be the worst situation I have ever been in.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” said Mae. “I’ve been in much worse situations than this.”

She shivered and thought of the knife sliding in her sweaty grasp, the terrible resistance as she had sunk it into skin. She remembered the blood on her hands.

Rachel and Erica didn’t know anything about what had happened last month. They still thought she’d run off to London with her poor misguided brother on some crazy impulse.

Her mother thought that too, which was why Mae had been grounded for two weeks, picked up outside school in Annabel’s car like one of the younger kids who ran from school to car, frantic to exchange one cage for another.

Mae closed her eyes, more desperate to escape than any of them, and the dying streetlamps and broken lane faded away. She remembered bright lanterns flooding the forest with gold, dancing with an edge of danger so she wasn’t sure if she was sweating from exhilaration or fear, and black eyes on hers.

She’d seen magic. And now she’d lost it.

She wasn’t thinking about that, though. She was finally out for the night and she was going to have a good time. She was going to see Seb, and she wasn’t going to think about anyone else.

There was a clatter and movement in the shadows. Mae jumped and Erica grabbed her arm, five sharp fingernails biting like a small scared animal.

“It’s fine,” Mae said loudly, more to herself than her friends. She’d walked around Burnt House Lane after dark hundreds of times. She’d never been scared before. She wasn’t going to start being scared now just because she knew exactly what could be watching.

Mae walked on, keeping her stride measured and sure, and nothing followed them that she could hear.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” she told Erica. “Nothing.”

They reached the next alley and saw the warehouse where the party was being held, its windows streaming steady yellow light. Erica took a deep breath, and Mae grinned.

“See,” she said. “What did I tell you?”

“Sorry I got freaked out,” said Erica, who had not said a word all this time, who was always the angel on Mae’s shoulder saying, “Sounds great!” while Rachel on the other said, “We’re all doomed.” “I know the Lane’s safe enough, really. After all, Jamie hangs around here. Can’t really see Jamie strolling through a crime den.”

She laughed, and Rachel on Mae’s other side did too, both of them towering over Mae in their heels, fear melting away in the light.

The warehouse suddenly looked a lot less inviting.

“Jamie’s been hanging around the Lane?” Mae asked. “Since when?”

Jamie hadn’t been grounded. Annabel had assumed Mae was responsible for the whole thing, and Mae had let her. It wasn’t as if they could tell anyone the truth.

Mae had taken the blame and waved Jamie out of the house every night for weeks. He’d said he was going to the library to study; after all, it was his GCSE year, and the tests were coming up soon.

She didn’t know why she’d believed him. He’d lied to her before.

Erica looked uncertain about how Mae would take this, but she said, “Tim’s seen him around there almost every night for weeks.”

Erica’s boyfriend Tim was in Seb’s gang of guys, who weren’t Laners but liked to hang around Burnt House Lane anyway. The Lane was mostly just kids messing around, but far too many of those kids thought hassling Jamie was a good time.

Wandering Burnt House Lane after dark . . . Jamie did not take chances like that. She always told him he needed to take more risks, have a little fun, and Jamie always smiled his lopsided smile and said that he felt he got all the danger he needed in his life eating school lunches.

Mae thought about the very real danger Jamie had been in, less than a month ago. She thought about seeing a black mark on Jamie’s skin and hearing two strangers tell her that her baby brother was going to die.

She could hear the music coming out of the warehouse by now, not calling to her and promising her magic, but steady and reassuring as a heartbeat. She wanted to have fun with her friends again, to find Seb and see where that was going. She wanted to return to her normal life.

And she would, as soon as she knew her brother was safe.

“You guys go ahead, I just need to check something out.”

Mae had already sprinted a few steps away, so when she looked back her friends were superimposed against the light and music, staring at her with identically wide eyes.

“You just need to check something out in the pitch dark, in a dodgy part of town?” Rachel asked.

Mae didn’t need to be told it was dangerous. If it was dangerous for her, it would be twice as dangerous for Jamie, and every minute she spent talking was another minute he could be getting deeper into trouble.

“You’re barely even wearing a shirt! What are you going to do if a mugger jumps out at you, flash them?”

“That’s the basic plan,” Mae told her, and ran.

Mae had walked around Burnt House Lane at night plenty of times before, stumbling out of clubs with a guy who always turned out to be less interesting in the light of day. It was different now, alone with the night air running cool sharp fingers along her bare shoulders, her whole body tense. The moonlight was casting spiderweb graffiti on already scrawled-on walls and the night was full of potential danger.

People who thought it was funny to write “Gaz was here” on the walls might think it was funny to hurt Jamie. Mae was almost stumbling in her hurry through the night, so intent on her search that she put her foot into a slimy puddle. The plastic bag half-sunk in the dirty water clung to her laces as if it was a drowning swimmer. She shook her foot until it slipped off and into its watery, oily grave.

As she shook, she heard a boy’s voice say, “Crawford?” and she turned, wet shoe squishing as she ran toward an alley.

Lurking in alleys around the Lane, Mae thought in outrage. What did Jamie think he was doing?

She was mad about his stupidity right up until she...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1416963812
• ISBN 13: 9781416963813
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 448
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande