The Secret of the Bloodred Key (Volume 2) - Couverture rigide

Farr, David

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1665922605 ISBN 13 : 9781665922609

Editeur : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024

Synopsis

This “swashbuckling and emotionally stirring” (Kirkus Reviews) sequel to the phenomenal The Book of Stolen Dreams that Publishers Weekly compared to the work of Kelly Barnhill and Lemony Snicket sees Rachel shouldering her new responsibility as key keeper when a girl goes missing.

After defeating the tyrant Malstain, Rachel and Robert are the heroes of Krasnia…but all is not how it should be. Robert is swept away with his new friends, leaving Rachel alone to take care of their ailing father, who’s lost without their beloved mother.

Rachel has also become the keeper of the hidden bloodred key that opens the way into the Hinterland and is sworn to answer when it calls. So when a young girl, Elsa Spiegel, is illegally smuggled into the Hinterland, Rachel has no choice but to use her key to save her. But Elsa’s fate is linked to Krasnia’s, and Rachel’s rescue mission turns into a battle to save her home as she knows it.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

David Farr is a playwright, screenwriter, stage director, and film and TV director whose plays have been performed all over the world. He’s the author of The Stolen Dreams Adventures series. 

Extrait. © Reproduit sur autorisation. Tous droits réservés.

Chapter 1: The Boy on the Bench

1 The Boy on the Bench
The figure was alone. He was a boy, dressed strangely in a smart brown mackintosh coat and polished black shoes. He was about her brother’s age, Rachel thought, perhaps slightly older. He had short, very dark brown hair. And he was not here for the playground.

The boy looked at her seriously and nodded. What could such a look mean? Rachel was about to take a different path when the boy made a strange movement with his right hand. She looked down.

He was holding something.

It was a bloodred key.

Rachel stared in astonishment. The key was identical to the one Rachel had been magically left after she destroyed The Book of Stolen Dreams. But Rachel had hidden her bloodred key in the bedroom she shared with Robert ever since.

So how did this boy have one?

The boy signaled and walked on. Rachel followed him into an area of the park surrounded by rose bushes. He sat on a bench in such a way that left space beside him. Rachel stood by the bench but did not sit.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

“I have something to tell you,” he said quietly. “Sit down.” Rachel sat but kept distance between them.

“How did you get that key?” she asked firmly, looking ahead so no one would know they were talking.

“The same way you did,” said the boy. “I closed a rip in the fabric.”

Rachel felt her breath stick in her chest. How did he know about that? Everyone in Brava was aware Rachel and Robert Klein had defeated Charles Malstain, but they had no idea that Rachel had destroyed The Book of Stolen Dreams and closed the gate to the Hinterland forever. Constanza Glimpf had made it very clear: ordinary people must have no idea that the Hinterland existed at all.

People cannot be trusted with such knowledge.

“What fabric?” Rachel asked the boy cagily. She was keeping as much distance on the bench as possible.

“Anyone who closes the fabric between life and death, between our world and the Hinterland, joins our select group and receives a bloodred key,” the boy said, glancing at her. “We are the Keepers of the Key. We know the truth of the Hinterland—the land where dead souls roam. We know its dark magic.”

There was such intensity in his honey-brown eyes.

“There are those like Malstain who wish to exploit the magic to bring the dead back to life. We must use the keys to stop them. You must use your key wisely, Rachel Klein.”

“But how will I know when to use it?” Rachel stammered. She couldn’t believe her ears.

“The key will tell you,” the boy said gravely. “Swear to me that when it does, you will not refuse it.”

Rachel wanted to ask how the key would tell her but instead she found herself swearing that she would do exactly as he said.

The boy stood.

“Tell no one about this. This knowledge is not for everyone.”

For a moment they watched as ordinary Bravans passed through the park, going about their daily lives in the new free Krasnia, utterly unaware of the strange conversation taking place among the winter roses.

Then very quietly the boy fished something out of his trouser pocket.

It was a small card with a red key imprinted on one side. On the other side was a six-digit number and an image of a telephone.



634234

Call only in Absolute Emergency

He placed the card in her hand. He kept hold of it for a brief moment.

“You are not alone.”

Then he walked away across the grass.

“Wait,” Rachel wanted to say, but by the time she’d opened her mouth, it was too late. The boy in the mackintosh coat was gone.

And she didn’t even know his name.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1665922605
• ISBN 13: 9781665922609
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 336
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible