The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Author:Carlos Ruiz Zafon [Zafon, Carlos Ruiz]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: JUV018000
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Published: 2010-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

10

MY NEXT ENCOUNTER with the Prince of Mist took place a few months later. My father had just been promoted to chief engineer in a textile factory, and to celebrate he decided to take us all to a large amusement park built on a wooden pier. I’ll never forget it. The pier stretched out into the sea and the buildings on it shone like a glass palace suspended from the sky. When night fell, the sight of all the multicolored lights reflected on the water was magnificent. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. My father was over the moon: He’d rescued his family from what had promised to be a miserable future and was now a man with a good job, was highly regarded, and had enough money in his pocket to be able to let his children enjoy the same amusements as any other child in town. We had an early dinner and then my father gave us each a few coins to spend on whatever we liked, while he and my mother strolled about arm in arm, rubbing shoulders with the well-to-do.

“I was fascinated by the Big Wheel that turned ceaselessly at one end of the pier—its lights could be seen for miles along the coast—and I ran to join the queue. While I waited I became aware of a booth standing only a few meters away. Between lucky dips and shooting galleries, an intense purple light illuminated the mysterious den of Dr. Cain, fortune-teller, magician, and clairvoyant, as the notice outside proclaimed. A third-rate artist had depicted Cain’s face on the sign; his eyes stared threateningly at any onlookers who walked over to the new lair of the Prince of Mist. The portrait, together with the shadows projected by the purple lamp, lent the den a chilling, funereal appearance. A curtain with the six-pointed star embroidered in black cloaked the entrance.

“As if drawn by an invisible force, I left the queue for the Big Wheel and walked over to the hut. I was trying to peek inside through a narrow gap when the curtain was flung open and a woman dressed in black, with snow-white skin and dark, piercing eyes, beckoned to me. Inside, sitting behind a table under the glow of an oil lamp, was the man I had met in another place and time: Cain. A large, dark cat with golden eyes was grooming itself at his feet.

“Without thinking twice, I went over to the table where the Prince of Mist was waiting for me, a smile on his face. I still remember his voice, deep and measured, saying my name over the hypnotic sound of the music from a merry-go-round that seemed to be far, far away….”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.