‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘But I think you’d better keep those if you’re going to help us find out about Skylurian Midzhar.’
‘Really? But . . .’
‘And if you’re going to hang out with us and get into more trouble with dark mages with deadly spiders and everything,’ Effie said, ‘it might help if you have this.’
She took out the Athame of Stealth and handed it to him.
‘I think you might need it,’ she said. ‘Especially if you plan to go to the Underworld again.’
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘How did you know . . .?’ He felt the weight of the athame in his hand. It was a complex and powerful weapon that he sensed could be used by both light and dark forces. Although Maximilian felt compelled to explore the darkness of the Underworld again, he decided he would only go there if it meant helping his friends.
The lock clicked quietly as Effie turned the key in the door, and she and Maximilian walked out of the Tusitala School for the Gifted, Troubled and Strange into the rain and gloom together, knowing that their adventures were only just beginning.
Acknowledgements
I could not have written this book without the love and support of my partner, Rod Edmond, whose enjoyment of early drafts of this book gave me great hope. My brothers Sam Ashurst and Hari Ashurst-Venn, and my sister-in-law Nia Johnston, were also incredibly encouraging during the writing process and read my first draft with a love and enthusiasm that one can usually only dream of. My mother, Francesca Ashurst, and my stepfather Couze Venn, have also given me a huge amount of love and support. I am extremely lucky to have a family who are genuinely entertained and moved by the stories I create. Thank you to all of them. And a warm welcome to baby Ivy.
I also want to thank my other wonderful first readers. Molly Harman, one of the dedicatees of this book, and at the time a very perceptive ten-year-old, read a very early draft with such excitement that I became determined to make this the very best book I had ever written. Molly also asked an important question that helped me to understand Maximilian more deeply, for which I am most grateful. Alice Bates also read the book with great enthusiasm and insight and gave me many encouraging words. She also unearthed a minor (OK, major) plot glitch that no one else had seen. Many thanks to her. My great friend Vybarr Cregan-Reid live-texted me his responses to the book as he was reading it, which meant I was going around grinning for days. I can’t thank him enough for his friendship and healthy competition over the years.
Other people who made life easier or more pleasant in unfathomable (or even fathomable) ways while I was writing include David Flusfeder, Amy Sackville, Abdulrazak Gurnah, David Herd, Stuart Bennett, Daisy Harman, Eliza Harman, Max Harman, Ed Hoare, Jo Harman, Claire Forbes-Winslow, Charlotte Webb, Emma Lee, Marion Edmond, Lyndy McIntyre, Sue Swift, Pat Lucas, Roger Baker (a wonderful Master healer), Stuart Kelly (who showed me the rooms of the Speculative Society just when I most needed to see them) and Sasha de Buyl-Pisco, who put together the most beautiful event for my last adult book, complete with Victorian glasshouse and candlelight, and whose eyes lit up in just the right way when I admitted, after a few glasses of wine, that I was now writing a children’s fantasy novel. Thank you too to all my other friends and family members not listed here, and also to all my fantastic colleagues in the School of English at the University of Kent.
I don’t know how to begin to thank Francis Bickmore – my wonderful editor, dear friend and partner in crime for almost ten years now. What adventures we have had together! I hope there will be many more to come. The inimitable Jamie Byng took the book out into the world and found other people who loved it, for which I am very grateful. His brilliantly enthusiastic response to this novel meant a great deal to me. Many thanks to all my other friends and collaborators at Canongate, including the wonderful Jenny Todd, Andrea Joyce, Rafi Romaya, Anna Frame, Vicki Rutherford, Lorraine McCann and Becca Nice. Thanks too to all my other new and old publishers around the world. Geoff Morley and Mary Pender at UTA – thank you for believing in this book. I know it is safe in your hands. Finally, I would like to thank my agent and dear friend David Miller for his unwavering commitment to beauty, integrity and style. May he rest in peace.
Note: When Maximilian goes to the edge of the Underworld, his encounters include quotations from James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield and Mikhail Bulgakov. The book Maximilian’s mother reads each year is The Master and Margarita, one of my very favourite novels.
Scarlett Thomas, Dragon's Green
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