by David Estes
His best friend, Chuck Boggs, jogs up to him and slaps him on the back, laughing hysterically. “That. Was. Awesome!” he exclaims between fits of laughter.
Despite the damage to his food-maker, Harrison can’t hold back a smile. “How fast was I?”
Chuck brushes a wild tuft of reddish hair out of his eyes. “Like a speeding aut-car. No, like lightning. Or a rocket. Yeah, you were as fast as a rocket!”
Harrison keeps on grinning. “Do you think Coach will put me at keeper on Saturday?” he asks.
“Duh,” Chuck says. “You’ve got the quickest hands of any kid on the team. And you never fall off your hoverboard.”
Although he gets a thrill from his friend’s compliments, the food-maker weighs heavy in his arms. “My mom is going to kill me,” he mutters, displaying the massive dent.
“Nah. She’ll get over it and just buy you a new one. How’s your weird mom today anyway?”
He feels a pang of anger in his stomach, but he clenches his gut and it goes away. “As weird as ever,” he says, which, as usual, makes Chuck laugh. Making fun of his mom seems to be a sure-fire way to make and keep his friends. He may not ever see his father, but at least he has a lot of friends.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Chuck says, pushing him in the direction of the school, where dozens of kids are filing inside. As they push into the flow, Chuck says, “I heard they’re closing in on the Slip.”
Harrison shrugs. All Chuck ever seems to want to talk about is the Slip. Chuck’s father works for the cops, so he guesses it makes sense, but at the same time, just because Harrison’s father works for Pop Con doesn’t mean he follows the Slip news.
“So you don’t know if the rumors are true?” Chuck asks, nudging him with an elbow when Harrison doesn’t respond.
Harrison wishes he could be honest with his friend, could tell him that he barely sees his father, much less talks to him. “It’s top secret,” Harrison says instead.
“Oh, come on! You’re killing me!” Chuck says.
“Sorry.”
As they enter the building through the body scanners, Harrison wonders whether finding the Slip would mean his dad wouldn’t have to work so much.
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Table of Contents
Map of the Four Kingdoms- Circa 532
The story so far…
Prelude
PART I
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
First Interlude
PART II
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Second Interlude
PART III
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Third Interlude
PART IV
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
Fifty-Six
Fifty-Seven
Fifty-Eight
Fifty-Nine
Sixty
Sixty-One
Sixty-Two
Sixty-Three
Sixty-Four
Sixty-Five
Fourth Interlude
PART V
Sixty-Six
Sixty-Seven
Sixty-Eight
Sixty-Nine
Seventy
Seventy-One
Seventy-Two
Seventy-Three
Fifth Interlude
PART VI
Seventy-Four
Seventy-Five
Seventy-Six
Seventy-Seven
Seventy-Eight
Seventy-Nine
Eighty
Eighty-One
Eighty-Two
Eighty-Three
Eighty-Four
Eighty-Five
Eighty-Six
Eighty-Seven
Eighty-Eight
Eighty-Nine
Ninety
Ninety-One
Ninety-Two
Ninety-Three
Ninety-Four
POSTLUDES
Postlude 1: Mortis Ironclad
Postlude 2: Fay Da
Postlude 3: Helmuth Gäric
The Fatemarked
Royal Genealogy of the Four Kingdoms (three generations)
Acknowledgments
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