Ghostfire (Volume 3) (Magic Zero, Band 3) - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Thomas E. Sniegoski is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His books for teens include Legacy, Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, and Force Majeure, as well as the series The Brimstone Network. As a comic book writer, Sniegoski’s work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit, Bone. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the project, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their French Bulldog, Kirby. Visit him on the web at Sniegoski.com.

Christopher Golden is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, Road of Bones, and the Stoker Award-winning Ararat, among many others. Golden cocreated (with Mike Mignola) the fan-favorite comic book series Baltimore and Joe Golem: Occult Detective. He has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and the online animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson). His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. He has been nominated eleven times in eight different categories for the Bram Stoker Award, and has won twice. In 2023, Golden and Amber Benson cowrote and codirected the Audible Original podcast Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. Please visit him at ChristopherGolden.com.

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Ghostfire

CHAPTER ONE

Anticipation crackled in the air. His expectations were so high that it tingled upon his skin like magic.

Or, at least, the way Timothy Cade imagined that magic would feel. Yet in this world where everything and everyone was connected by magic, Timothy was a blank space. Magic could not touch him, and he could not wield it. He was uniquely alone, cut off in a way that no one else could ever understand, and so he had to create his own kind of magic.

That was the source of his excitement today. He felt jittery, and his stomach fluttered, and he felt a prickling all over his face and hands and the back of his neck, and wondered if this was what it felt like to be in tune with the magical current that ran through the world. In his heart he suspected that even this wonderful feeling could not compare with the sensation of magic that would always be denied him.

But even so, he could not erase the grin on his face. If this was all the magic he would ever have in his life, Timothy would still consider himself lucky. It would do. It would most certainly do.

On that crisp, cool morning, Timothy and several of his friends had gathered in an open, grassy knoll behind the servants’ entrance to SkyHaven’s kitchen. SkyHaven was a magnificent estate, an island fortress that floated hundreds of feet above the ocean, just a short distance from the shores of Arcanum. High above the water, the wind could blow quite cold, and so the boy raised the collar of his tunic and renewed his focus upon the task at hand. His friends had come to see him test his latest invention.

Timothy called it the Burrower, and he had built it to drill into the earth. The original design had occurred to him in a dream, back in the time when he had lived on the Island of Patience. He had woken and quickly sketched out a rough design, thinking that if he could only get the parts together, it would allow him to build an underground workshop that would be a safer refuge when the tropical storms swept across the island in the spring.

Now, that dream had gone from rough sketch to reality. Or, almost. The vehicle he stood before now was the prototype for a much larger digging machine that he would build if this version proved successful. It was a boxy-looking thing, about the size of a sky carriage, with a studded, conical nose that would twist to tear into the ground and funnel the disturbed soil toward the back of the Burrower. It had one seat behind a thick shield of metal to protect the driver from flying debris as the cone spun, digging into the earth. There was a small window at the center of the metal shield so that the driver could monitor the progress of the dig. The window was made of a transparent and quite durable material called vitreous that he concocted by mixing together the gummy saps of two of the land’s most prevalent plants. The vitreous would not shatter. The Burrower’s power source was located behind the seat, a steam engine also of Timothy’s design, and powered by the burning of the heatstone Vulcanite. The entire craft rested on a six-wheeled chassis.

Timothy walked around the Burrower and made yet another final inspection, feeling the expectant eyes of his audience upon him. He had been readying the craft for its trial run for nearly an hour.

“Are we going to do this today, or should we come back later this week?” a grating voice squawked, and Timothy turned to glare at Edgar. The black-feathered bird was his familiar—his animal companion—as well as his friend.

“Caw! Caw!” Edgar squawked, waiting for Timothy to speak. Taunting him in the way the rook always did. Timothy smiled. The bird could always get a smile out of him.

Three of Timothy’s other friends were also there for the test run of the Burrower. Edgar flew in a circle and came to a fluttering stop on the shoulder of Sheridan, a steam-powered mechanical man Timothy had built while growing up on the island. His other companion during those years had been his mentor and teacher, Ivar, the last surviving warrior of the Asura tribe. Last but not least, there was Verlis, a new arrival to Timothy’s company of odd comrades. Verlis was a Wurm, a race descended from the Dragons of Old, and his presence in the world of Terra was the subject of much debate. But for the moment, not one of his friends was focused on anything other than the success or failure of his latest endeavor. Their attention was making him nervous. Timothy could tell by their expressions that they shared Edgar’s impatience.

“You know how I am about testing my inventions,” he said. “I have to be absolutely certain that everything will function properly before I give it a try.”

“Oh, we know. We’re just getting bored waiting for you to start her up,” Edgar squawked, feathers ruffling.

A blast of steam erupted from a valve at the side of Sheridan’s head, and the mechanical man reached up to take a swipe at Edgar. The bird’s talons clicked and clacked upon the metal as he evaded Sheridan’s attempts to silence him.

“Keep quiet, you!” Sheridan scolded. “Timothy can take as long as he likes. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ that’s what I always say.”

Over the years Sheridan had become so much more than one of Timothy’s inventions. As far as the boy was concerned, he was as much flesh and blood as any of his other companions, even though made of metal and powered by steam.

“Thanks, Sheridan,” Timothy called. “It’s nice to know that somebody understands.”

Edgar flapped his wings, taking to the air, flying in a circle around the gathering. “You’ve been over the thing ten times already,” the bird complained. “It’s time to give it a go.”

Timothy looked back to the Burrower and thought of all the things he’d like to check one more time, just to be safe.

“My friend,” came a rough, deep voice. The boy turned to see Verlis unfurling his large, leathery wings. “The bird is correct. There is still much to be done to prepare for the expedition to Tora’nah,” the Wurm reminded him. “I mean no disrespect, but time is of the essence.”

Timothy nodded. It was true enough, but he was still reluctant to go ahead until he was absolutely certain he had done everything possible to ensure a safe trial of the Burrower. He did not want to waste his friends’ time, but he had to be sure. Too much depended on the success of this latest invention. For the first time since he had come to live in this world, the Parliament of Mages—the ruling body of Terra—had asked for his help. Many of them were still suspicious of him because he had no magic. They called him the Un-Magician . . . and many other things, far less kind. Abomination. Freak. And worse. But now the Parliament had asked him to help them prepare to defend all of Terra against the threat of an impending invasion. The Wurm had been banished years ago to an alternate dimension, and now, led by a cruel, vengeful commander called Raptus, they intended to return to Terra and make war.

With the safety of every man, woman, and child hanging in the balance, Timothy could not say no, regardless of how he felt about Parliament. He needed the Burrower to work properly. He didn’t want to fail the Parliament. He didn’t want to...