“You have not thrown anything away,” the Wobbly complained. “Where is the useless? Where is the thing for recycling?”
Tim pointed at the car. “There. It’s all yours. It’s the least useful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Then I shall take, Opener.”
Tim watched the creature grow until it was large enough to clutch the ruined car in its talons. It gripped the car tightly and lifted it into the air. Tim watched until the creature and the haunted car vanished beyond the horizon.
Tim felt instantly lighter. The past—at least that horrific frozen moment of the past—was gone. It had happened; nothing would ever change that. But now it wouldn’t drag them down and hold them there with it.
I hope Dad feels the same way, he thought with a momentary pang of anxiety. Well, what’s done is done.
“This was a good thing to do, even if he doesn’t realize it at first,” Tim decided. Let’s see, should I tell him I got rid of it, or just keep quiet and let him discover it’s gone?
“Nah,” Tim declared. “Truth is best. I’ll tell him it’s been taken away for salvage.” And now we can salvage ourselves.
Tim turned to leave the car park and saw a familiar figure slowly approaching. Mr. Hunter—the dad he had grown up with, who had raised him even though he knew that Tim wasn’t his child, who had loved Mary with all his heart, was slowly pacing his way toward the lot. A few yards from Tim, Mr. Hunter looked up.
“Tim,” he said, astonished. “What are you doing here?”
“I…uh…” Tim wasn’t sure how to explain his mission at the parking lot, or how he had accomplished it, so he let his words trail off. He wasn’t even certain how much time had passed in his world while he had been in Faerie.
Mr. Hunter studied Tim’s face, his expression concerned. “Are you all right, son?” he asked. “I know I was short with you a little while ago. Out of line, really. But you had me so worried…”
His words trailed off, too. For a moment, Tim and Mr. Hunter looked at each other. Finally, Mr. Hunter’s eyes flicked past Tim and scanned the lot. Tim saw confusion cross his dad’s face.
“Where’s the car?” Mr. Hunter said.
“Right,” Tim said. “The car. Well, I kind of got rid of it.” Tim braced himself. He wasn’t sure how his dad would respond.
“You did?” Mr. Hunter asked.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Tim explained. “That car was like a trap. Like quicksand. Dragging you down and keeping you down there with it.”
Mr. Hunter stared at Tim. His eyes grew larger and Tim could see tears forming. This is bad, Tim thought, feeling a little panicked. I won’t know what to do if Dad starts to cry. “Besides,” Tim said hastily, trying to lighten the heavy moment, “this way you’ll have to get me a car that I can actually drive. Once I hit sixteen.”
Mr. Hunter nodded, blinking hard. “Maybe you won’t be grounded by then,” he said, his voice gruff and thick with emotion.
“You think?” Tim said, a grin spreading across his face.
“So what do you say?” Mr. Hunter said. “Ready to come home, Tim?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Tim said.
And he meant every word.
About the Authors
CARLA JABLONSKI has edited and written dozens of best-selling books for children and young adults. She is also an actress, a playwright, and a trapeze artist, and has performed extensively in Scotland and in New York City. A lifelong resident of New York City, she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
NEIL GAIMAN is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of such titles as AMERICAN GODS and CORALINE (both New York Times best-sellers), NEVERWHERE, and STARDUST (winner of the ALA Alex Award). He is also the author of the Sandman series of graphic novels.
Visit him online at www.mousecircus.com
JOHN BOLTON was seven when he first encountered a paintbrush and has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in which he has collaborated with some of the industry’s most prestigious contributors and handled assignments for a variety of major publishers.
Visit him online at www.johnbolton.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Copyright
The Books of Magic #6: Reckonings
Copyright © 2004 by DC Comics.All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition AUGUST 2006 ISBN: 9780061973888
The Books of Magic, all characters, the distinctive likeness thereof, and all related names and indicia featured in this publication are trademarks of DC Comics.
Timothy Hunter and The Books of Magic created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.
The Books of Magic: Reckonings was primarily adapted from the story serialized in The Books of Magic: Reckonings; The Books of Magic: Transformations; The Books of Magic: Girl in the Box; The Books of Magic: Death After Death; and The Books of Faerie, originally published by Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2001.
The Books of Magic: Reckonings, Transformations, Girl in the Box, and Death After Death comic books were created by the following people:
Written by John Ney Reiber
Illustrated by Peter Gross
The Books of Faerie were created by the following people:
Written by Bronwyn Carlton and John Ney Reiber
Illustrated by Peter Gross
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people (living, dead, or stolen by fairies), or to any real animals, gods, witches, countries, and events (magical or otherwise), is just blind luck, or so we hope.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jablonski, Carla.
Reckonings / by Carla Jablonski ; created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.—1st Eos ed.
p. cm. (Books of magic ; #6)
“Primarily adapted from the story serialized in The Books of Magic: Reckonings; The Books of Magic: Transformations; The Books of Magic: Girl in the Box; The Books of Magic: Death After Death; and The Books of Faerie, originally published by Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2001”—Copyright page.
Summary: Concerned that he might become evil and endanger his girlfriend in the future, thirteen-year-old Timothy Hunter returns to Faerie to get the truth about his parentage and his magic once and for all.
ISBN 0-06-447384-8 (pbk.)
www.dccomics.com
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la Jablonski, Reckonings
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