Rook, page 26
There was noise from behind the broad double doors, and he straightened. It sounded as if the ballot committee was preparing to emerge.
“I don’t hate paranormals,” he added, more quietly. “They’re part of this city as much as anyone else is. I just know that we’re tugging at the lid of one hell of a Pandora’s box, that’s all.”
The doors swung wide and Mayor Spade stood before us, holding a single piece of paper in his hands. From the harrowed look on his face and the anxious waves pouring off his aura, it was clear that the vote had been very close—but it was also clear just which way it had landed in the end. New Fiddleham was about to get a lot more interesting.
“Here we go,” mouthed Mayor Spade as he made his way toward the podium in the town square.
Marlowe drew a long, slow breath.
“Don’t forget what was in the bottom of that box Pandora opened,” I whispered.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Hope,” I said. “Let’s keep an eye out for that one when the lid comes off, shall we?”
Acknowledgments
A decade ago, I had a silly idea for a story about a detective who could see magical creatures. As with all the wildest ideas I’ve concocted, I came up with this one to make my wife smile. (You would come up with wild ideas too, if she was your wife. It’s a very good smile.) The only reason the silly idea grew into a complete story—and that story into a novel and that novel into a series—is that this brilliant, razor-sharp woman (whom I constantly want to impress) kept asking me the same question: What happens next?
None of my novels would exist without Katrina. This book in particular would not exist without Katrina. She was quite insistent that it must, and so it does. I would give that woman the whole wide world if I could, but I trust that she will settle for New Fiddleham . . . and for an answer: This. This is what happens next. I hope it makes you smile.
William Ritter is an Oregon educator and the New York Times bestselling author of the Jackaby series, which received glowing trade and national reviews and was named to many state lists. He is the proud father of the two bravest boys in the Wild Wood, and husband to the indomitable Queen of the Deep Dark. Visit him online at rwillritter.wordpress.com and find him on Twitter: @Willothewords.
Also by William Ritter
The Jackaby Series
Jackaby
Beastly Bones
Ghostly Echoes
The Dire King
The Oddmire Series
Changeling
The Unready Queen
Deepest, Darkest
Published by Algonquin Young Readers
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ISBN 9781643752402 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781523523900 (ebook)
William Ritter, Rook
