ALSO BY CATHERINE EGAN
Julia Vanishes
Julia Defiant
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 by Catherine Egan
Cover art copyright © 2018 by Gustavo Marx (girl), Shutterstock (background)
Map copyright © 2018 by Robert Lazzaretti
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Visit us on the Web! GetUnderlined.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 9780553524888 (trade) — ebook ISBN 9780553524901
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v5.3.2
ep
Contents
Cover
Also by Catherine Egan
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map
People, Places, and Things
Nago Island
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Day 2 to Day 4
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Day 4, Evening
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Day 5
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Day 6
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Day 7
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Day 8
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Day 9
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Chapter Forty-eight
Chapter Forty-nine
Chapter Fifty
Day 10
Chapter Fifty-one
Chapter Fifty-two
Chapter Fifty-three
Chapter Fifty-four
Chapter Fifty-five
Chapter Fifty-six
Chapter Fifty-seven
Day 11
Chapter Fifty-eight
Chapter Fifty-nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-one
Chapter Sixty-two
Chapter Sixty-three
Chapter Sixty-four
Chapter Sixty-five
Day 12
Chapter Sixty-six
Chapter Sixty-seven
Chapter Sixty-eight
Chapter Sixty-nine
Chapter Seventy
Day 13
Chapter Seventy-one
Chapter Seventy-two
Chapter Seventy-three
Chapter Seventy-four
Chapter Seventy-five
Chapter Seventy-six
Day 14
Chapter Seventy-seven
Chapter Seventy-eight
Chapter Seventy-nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-one
Chapter Eighty-two
Chapter Eighty-three
Chapter Eighty-four
After the Revolution
Chapter Eighty-five
Chapter Eighty-six
Chapter Eighty-seven
Chapter Eighty-eight
Acknowledgments
About the Author
For Gillian—
All the way through every story
I am waiting for you under the streetlamp
Let’s go
Ammi: A witch; Julia and Benedek’s mother
Professor Baranyi: A scholar and friend to Mrs. Och; once jailed for heretical writings
Benedek: Julia’s brother
Dafne Besnik: A noble girl chosen by Casimir to marry Duke Everard and become queen of Frayne
Bianka: A witch; Theo’s mother; drowned by Mrs. Och
Casimir (Lan Camshe): One of the Xianren, seeking to reassemble all three parts of The Book of Disruption
Csilla: Part of Esme’s gang; a former actress turned con artist; Gregor’s lover
Esme: Spira City crime boss, now one of the leaders of the burgeoning revolution
Idir Faruk: A witch; Zara’s ex-tutor and Lady Laroche’s friend
Frederick: A brilliant young student; Professor Baranyi’s assistant
Gennady (Zor Gen): Youngest of the Xianren; Theo’s father; imprisoned by Casimir
Gregor: An ex-aristocrat con man working for Esme; Csilla’s lover
Agoston Horthy: The prime minister of Frayne
Lady Laroche: A witch; the head of the Sidhar Coven in Frayne
Lidari: A general of the Gethin; Marike’s associate
Liddy: An elderly shoemaker with a large network of mysterious connections; Julia’s friend
Emil Lorka: A famous artist and Wyn’s hero; a member of the revolutionary set
Marike: A witch; the first Phar and founder of the Eshriki Empire
Mrs. Och (Och Farya): Eldest of the Xianren; fatally injured by Julia in Kahge
Pia: Casimir’s enforcer
Ragg Rock: A name for both the hill between the world and Kahge and the mud woman guarding it
Silver Moya: A wit
ch called to act as a gatekeeper between the world and Ragg Rock
Lord Skaal: Half-man, half–Parnese wolf; in Agoston Horthy’s employ
Theo: Gennady and Bianka’s toddler son, with a fragment of The Book of Disruption bound to his essence
Dorje Tsewang: A mysterious Xanuhan woman working for Zara
Sir Victor: A nobleman forced into a contract with Casimir; his daughter is a hostage in Agoston Horthy’s court; a double agent
Wyn: An orphan and a crook; Esme’s adopted son; Julia’s ex-lover
Zara: Claimant to the Fraynish throne and leader of the revolution
King Zey: The dying king of Frayne
The Ankh-nu: A double-spouted clay pot made to transfer the essence of a living being from one body to another
The besilik mirror: A mirror with magical properties, used for searching inside someone’s mind or unearthing memories
The Book of Disruption: The first written magic and origin of magic in the world, said to have been written by Feo, spirit of fire, and broken into three pieces by the other elemental spirits
The Eshriki Empire: A powerful witch empire three thousand years ago whose rulers called themselves the Phars
The Gethin: A now-extinct army of creatures brought into the world from Kahge and given physical form by Marike, the first Eshriki Phar
Kahge: A magic-infused reflection, shadow, or image imprint of the natural world, created when The Book of Disruption was split into three
The Lorian Uprising: An unsuccessful revolution in Frayne eighteen years ago, intending to supplant King Zey with his more moderate brother, Roparzh
The nuyi: A parasite that embeds itself in the brain and conquers the will of its host—used by Casimir to assert control over those in his employ; called his “contract”
The Sidhar Coven: A Fraynish coven of witches—of which Julia’s mother, Ammi, was a part—involved in the Lorian Uprising
The Xianren: Immortal siblings, sometimes allies and sometimes enemies, each charged with protecting a portion of The Book of Disruption—Casimir (Lan Camshe), Gennady (Zor Gen), and Mrs. Och (Och Farya)
I wake up with his hands around my throat.
She is a burnt husk on the bed, a charred and twisted branch, like something left behind after the fire has raged through. But she is somehow alive, if you can call it that. Her breath comes in and out in slow, laborious rasps; her blackened chest rises and falls. At first I wonder why they don’t cover her, but then I imagine it must be painful to have clothing or blankets touching that seared flesh.
When her breath rattles to a halt, the two men at her bedside lean forward. And then: another gasp, the burnt chest heaves. They relax—deflate. I call them men, but they are not really men. They are the Xianren, ancient, immortal siblings—or as close to immortal as any living thing can come. There is no true immortality. Their sister dying on the bed is proof of that.
A hunchbacked woman with fair, graying hair and sad eyes sits in the corner of the room. I know her. The last time we met I fired as many bullets as I had into her, for all the good it did. She has a cartridge pen in her hand, and she is writing in a book that lies open on her lap—writing magic. The room smells of damp earth. Her gaze flickers toward us and rests on me, appraising, curious. The brothers do not look up. It becomes obvious that they did not hear us come in at all—too bent on their sister’s every breath. Pia says, in her broken-glass voice, “Here is Julia.”
They look up: Casimir, his face livid, all sharp edges and dead stone eyes, and Gennady like a broken lion, huge and golden-hued. I’ve been here a week, but they have been sitting vigil, and I was not summoned to see them until now, no matter how I begged for news of my own brother. I’ve been locked in a tower room playing cards with Pia, waiting. We got in the habit of cards on the long sea journey from Yongguo: King’s Heir, Four Realms, Evil Eights, Diamond Jack. It’s true that I count Pia my enemy, when I pause to count my enemies, but she’s all I’ve had for company for over a month now, and we had to pass the time somehow. One can’t fill every hour counting enemies.
Casimir rises, a flash of panic on his face that surprises me. Surely he is not afraid of me? But maybe he is. After all, look what I did to his sister.
“I told you—” he snarls at Pia. Her knees buckle; she steadies herself against the doorframe. The mechanical goggles fixed over her eyes swivel in and out. The hunchbacked witch—I know her only as Shey—looks back and forth between Pia and Casimir. When Casimir speaks again, it is to me, and his voice is unnervingly calm: “You left a mess behind you in Yongguo.”
“I’m here for Dek,” I say.
I am waiting for the moment when I can pull this man out of the world and destroy him like I did his sister. I will end him—but her scorched body on the bed and the horrible sound of her breathing shake my resolve more than I’d expected.
He points a trembling finger at her. His voice might be steady, but he is not steady, not at all.
“Look at what you have done to her.”
We all look at her. I used to think about forgiveness. I used to want it for myself. But I’m past all that, and I forgive nothing.
Her breathing comes to a choking stop again. The silence stretches out. Gennady moans. I make myself watch. If I did this, and if I was right, then I don’t get to look away.
“Save her,” Casimir says to Shey—somewhere between a plea and a command.
“I can only ease her pain.”
“She is not dead yet. You can save her!”
Shey keeps writing in her book and says, “Not for long, and even if I could, it would cost me too much.”
His face twists. His voice comes out a shriek: “Do as I say, witch!”
Shey puts her pen down and looks at him. The color drains from his face. I can see in that moment that he’s afraid; he’s overstepped. She picks up the pen again—a weapon, in her hand.
A gurgle, a cough, a gasp from the carcass on the bed.
“She killed Bianka,” I say to Gennady.
He raises his head slowly, like it’s too heavy for him.
“Bianka is dead?”
I nod, and he sags forward. He will blame himself, I reckon, and rightly so. Between the three of them—for they each played a part—the Xianren destroyed Bianka. If not for Gennady, though, she would never have been involved at all.
“My sister has been asking for you,” says Casimir.
I can’t quite see how she would manage to ask for anything, but I walk to her bedside. I find her eyes open in what used to be her face. Her hand moves suddenly, like a snake, closing wetly around my wrist, her grip stronger than I would have expected. I stifle a scream. With the next tortured exhalation, she says: “Julia.”
I’m sorry. That’s what leaps to my lips, but I shut my teeth over the words. I’m not sorry. Die, old thing. Just die.
“I tried to,” she whispers. “Everything…depends on. You must. The book, Lidari. Don’t let him.”
And then she stops breathing again, eyes rolling around frantically, and her enemy brothers bend over her, stunned by their grief because death has never truly touched any of them before in all of their thousands of years as sometime allies and sometime foes. But she’s not dead—she’s still holding on to me. I yank my wrist free.
She heaves another breath.
“Is that it?” I say.
Casimir pivots and shoves me away from her so that I stumble backward, nearly falling over. I regain my footing and whip my knife out of my boot. Just instinct, that. We stand staring at each other, and then Casimir says coldly to Pia: “Why is she armed?”
Pia shrugs. “What is she going to do with a knife? Cut your throat?”
“Get her out of my sight.” He turns his back on me and my useless knife, bending his long body over his sister again.
Shaking, I slide the knife back into my boot lining. Pia’s boot, actually; everything I’m wearing is hers. I could have asked for other clothes once we got here, but the truth is I prefer dressing like her. It feels like wearing a kind of armor. And what am I going to do with a knife? The witch, Shey, watches us go, pen poised. Pia takes me back to the room at the top of the castle where I’ve been passing the days since my arrival.
I slump in a chair and drop my face into my hands, trying to blot out the sight of Mrs. Och’s ruined body, her eyes still the same in that face that is no longer a face. The book, Lidari. I feel sick at being called Lidari—the monster that may or may not be trapped inside me—and bewildered by her message. Was she asking me not to let Casimir assemble The Book of Disruption? As if I need to be told.
Pia slings herself into the chair across from me, takes out a pack of cards, cuts and shuffles the deck, deals out.
Julia Unbound Page 1
