Return to Exile (Volume 1) (The Hunter Chronicles, Band 1) - Softcover

Patten, E. J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442420332 ISBN 13: 9781442420335

Verlag: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

One boy. Countless enemies. And a whole world to save before time runs out.

Eleven years ago, a shattered band of ancient hunters captured an unimaginable evil, and Phineas T. Pimiscule rescued his nephew, Sky, from the wreckage of that great battle. For eleven years, Sky Weathers has studied traps, puzzles, science, and the secret lore of the Hunters of Legend, believing it all a game. For eleven years, Sky and his family have hidden from dark enemies while his uncle Phineas sacrificed everything to protect them. For eleven years, Sky Weathers has known nothing of his peril. But on the eve of Sky’s twelfth birthday and his family’s long-awaited return to Exile, everything changes.

Phineas has disappeared, and Sky finds himself forced to confront the mysterious secrets of his past: Why did his family leave Exile eleven years ago? What, exactly, has Phineas been preparing him for? And, the biggest mystery of all, who is Sky really…and why does everyone want to kill him?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

E.J. Patten was born Arizona and grew up with a love of stories, thanks to his parents’ ownership of a video store. He received a BA in Media Arts and an MBA from Brigham Young University, and he lives with his wife and three children on a small hill overlooking a large lake in a Utah town.

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THE HUNTER CHRONICLES: RETURN TO EXILE excerpt

Prologue: Shiny Bobbles and All

Phineas T. Pimiscule was not what you’d call an “attractive” man. He wasn’t “desirable” or “appealing.” He didn’t like “things” or do “stuff” or “wash” himself. He was not the kind of guy to “put” “quotation” “marks” around “words” or to say things in an unassuming or assuming way.

He was the kind of guy who wore a monocle.

He had also been known to fraternize with unsavory characters—a necessity of the job, and possibly a result of monocle-wearing. He traveled the world, seeing the worst of it—places with grotesque names like The-Twelve-Levels-of-Hidden-Terror, Devil’s Hill, and Wyoming.

His wasn’t a glamorous life, but it was a necessary one . . . more necessary than anyone realized.

But tonight—on the third night of the Hunter’s Moon—the necessities of such a life had caught up to him. And after all these many long years, Phineas could finally feel his time drawing near, and he almost welcomed it. Almost.

Cradling a crying infant in his arms, he raced along the lonely path that led from his property to the sleepy, unknowing town beyond. Decaying trees towered over him like a big tower towers over smaller, less-big towers.

Dead leaves crunched beneath his feet like sharp teeth on bones, and the moon cast blue-black shadows all around that looked like monstrous figures eating unspeakable living buffets.

His antiquated frock suit coat from him in tatters, ripped by claws, fangs, and worse, and Phineas, mumbling and cursing, did his best to ignore the pain that shot through his body with each jarring step.

At the bottom of a long and lonely hill, Phineas collapsed gratefully against a fallen tree.

“Shhh . . . no more monsters, Sky. Cross my heart,” Phineas promised, bouncing Sky gently in his arms, “You’re safe now. Uncle Phineas is here. No more of that nasty business. Shhh . . .”

Glancing down, Phineas grimaced as he noticed dark blood trickling from a black mark on Sky’s small hand. Phineas sopped at it with a dirty handkerchief, revealing two crescent moons running vertically on Sky’s palm, from his fingers to his wrist, with the moons pressed together at the tips like a giant eye. Another mark, pale and white, sat within that dark eye, smaller, and with horizontal moons.

Phineas pressed his handkerchief against the trickle of blood, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to stop tears—his own tears—from coming.

“I’m so sorry, Sky. I’m so, so sorry. Your mother was right. I couldn’t protect you. And now look what I’ve done.”

Sky quieted as he watched Phineas weep, the infant’s forgiving eyes as big and blue as the ocean. And then, with eager hands, Sky reached for Phineas’s monocle.

“You like that, do you?” said Phineas, using the dirty handkerchief to wipe his eyes and nose before returning the cloth to Sky’s hand. “I suppose you would—shiny bobble and all.”

Phineas pulled the strange monocle from his eye and dangled it in front of Sky, swinging it back and forth like a pendulum.

There was a noise above—the fluttering of wings. Looking up, Phineas spotted dozens of oversize black and white crows landing on the branches around them.

“Piebalds,” said Phineas, narrowing his eyes at the strangely intelligent black-and-white birds, “there’s plenty to eat back at the manor!”

Phineas glared. He’d never cared for the things: Never trust a creature whose brain is smaller than a pea.

“CAW!” cawed the largest of the Piebalds.

“What do you mean you’ve become vegetarians?” Phineas replied suspiciously. “Since when?”

“Neat trick,” said a voice from the shadows.

Phineas spun, a gun slipping into his palm from up his sleeve.

“Hold on, hold on! I’m not armed! Not even a hunter anymore—remember? You booted me out yourself!” The man stepped out of the shadows covered in grime and gore, hands raised. He was unshaven, his skin rough and tanned like toffee left in the sun, and a faint smile played on his lips like a sun waiting to shine—if only there weren’t so many clouds.

“Beau?” said Phineas. He shifted his leg, cringing at the pain. “Your timing is impeccable, as always. Though, next time you attempt to sneak up on me, try not to smell like entrails.”

“Attempt to sneak up on you?” Beau scoffed. “You seemed pretty surprised to me.”

“All for show,” said Phineas. “I like for my former students to have a healthy sense of self-worth.”

“So,” said Beau, taking a few steps closer, “you really are Phineas, then?”

“At your trial three years ago,” said Phineas, holding the gun steady on Beau as the man took another step closer. “I gave you a book, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to recall the title.”

Beau stopped a few feet away. “The book was Twenty Things You Didn’t Know About Women and Wish You Could Forget Now That You Do. It doubled as a wedding gift.”

“Sorry,” said Phineas, lowering the gun. “I didn’t mean to dredge up the past.”

“Don’t apologize,” said Beau. “At least we know we’re both us.”

Phineas snorted. “I knew I was me long before you showed up. . . . Though, come to think of it, I have been suspicious of late.” Phineas dusted his monocle with the dirty handkerchief and returned it to his eye. “So, Malvidia couldn’t be bothered to come herself, then? She’s usually so hands-on when it comes to traitors.”

Phineas pushed himself to his feet with a huff while Sky sat cradled snuggly in his arms, watching the Piebalds.

“I think she knew you wouldn’t kill me, and maybe she thought I could talk some sense into you,” said Beau as they began walking down the path together.

“It’s hardly the time for sense, I should think, since nonsense has been serving us so well,” said Phineas, sounding annoyed, and frustrated, and terribly tired all at once.

“So, you’re really running, then?” asked Beau. “You’re going to let Malvidia take over what’s left of the hunters and just hide from it all? What will the Hunters of Legend think of that?”

“The Hunters of Legend rejected me long ago, and good riddance to bad rubbish, I say,” said Phineas. “Besides, they have their own problems at the moment.”

“Namely you,” said Beau. “I know you want to protect Sky, but do you really know this boy anymore? Can you vouch for him—that he’s really what we think he is? With that black mark on his hand, are you really so sure he won’t become what we all fear?”

The air between them grew silent and heavy. Even the Piebalds stopped their constant cawing.

Finally Phineas spoke, his forehead creased with thoughtful lines.

“Ah, ‘fear’—a funny word, that,” said Phineas. “Did you know you can’t have ‘fear’ without an ‘ear’? Imagine if we used a nose instead of an ear. Do...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1442420332
• ISBN 13: 9781442420335
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Zeichner: Rocco John
• Anzahl der Seiten: 512
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande