The Magician's Key by Matthew Cody

Author:Matthew Cody
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2016-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

Because of the thick fog, it was impossible to tell how close Vodnik had gotten. He’d been gaining on them steadily, despite the Leviathan’s steam engine running on full power. There was unnatural speed and strength in the magician’s ghostly crew.

Then the fog rolled in, and Max worried at first that it was a part of Vodnik’s magic, but the captain reassured her that the heavy fog would work to their advantage.

“We’re following a weirding way now,” said the captain. “We sail by instinct.”

“We’re sailing into New York?”

“New York, sure,” said Captain Hob. “But you won’t find the Winter Children in New York. You’ll find them off to the side and underfoot and just out of view, hidden from the eyes of normal folk. You see, it’s magic that hides them, the strongest magic left on earth. To find them you have to know the way in, the way that will take you to the city beneath the city. But it’s treacherous if you don’t know how to sail it, and dangerous to walk if you leave the path.”

As they continued on, Harold and Mrs. Amsel joined Max on deck while the captain barked commands to his men. Max could feel the tension on board. The sailors were quiet, and stole fearful glances at the mist.

“I’ve seen fog like this before,” said Max. She almost said on the Summer Isle, but she stopped herself. The captain had been true to his word up until now, but people reacted in unpredictable ways once they learned Max had actually been to the lost land of magic.

“Was the place haunted?” asked the captain.

“Actually, yeah, it was,” said Max. Shades Harbor on the Summer Isle was literally a ghost town.

The captain nodded. “Fog like this and you know that another world is nearby, whether it’s the afterlife or something in between. Either way, the walls of this world get thinner when magic is close by. But the door is still locked.”

The captain fixed his stare on Max. “That’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it? The door to the Summer Isle? For your trollish friend there, perhaps? Few more years and he won’t be able to pass among normal folk, but maybe there’s a place where he wouldn’t have to hide. Better life to be sure than hiding in a ship’s cabin all your days. Only coming out when you’re well clear of land, of people in general.”

After just a day at sea, Max had grown accustomed to the captain’s appearance, though she doubted that others would be so forgiving. “Why haven’t you tried the doorway yourself?” asked Max. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“The door is locked,” said the captain. “Don’t see the point.”

“But if you knew someone who had the key,” said Max. “And if that someone offered…”

For a moment, the captain said nothing, then he broke out into a large grin. At least, Max thought it was a grin. Hard to tell on a face like that. “So that’s why the magician pursues you.

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