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The Game

Page 12

by Diana Wynne Jones


  The trouble begins when the Goon moves into the kitchen and refuses to leave. It is then that the Sykes family discover that the town is being run by seven megalomaniac wizards!

  If you like time travel, you’ll love A Tale of Time City.

  Vivian is kidnapped and taken to Time City, a place that exists outside time and space. But the city is crumbling, and unless Vivian can help discover the cause, all of history will end…

  If you like fairy tales, you’ll love Howl’s Moving Castle.

  When Sophie falls under a curse, she seeks help from the fearsome Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the hearts of young girls…

  Answers

  Mythosphere Match

  Aladdin + Magic lamp Frodo Baggins + Ring

  Sinbad + Roc’s egg Alice + Bottle labelled “drink me”

  Baba Yaga + Hut with chicken legs Medusa + Snake hair

  Cinderella + Glass slipper King Arthur + Sword in the stone

  Thor + Hammer Persephone + pomegranate

  Know yourself Game

  Is your personality written in the stars? Or is it all just a load of moonshine?

  1. Capricorn 2. Gemini

  3. Cancer 4. Sagittarius

  5. Pisces 6. Taurus

  7. Libra 8. Aquarius

  9. Leo 10. Aries

  11. Scorpio 12. Virgo

  If you were wrong, go back and check which one is supposed to match you. Do you agree with it? Try the quiz on your friends and see how they match up.

  Diana Wynne Jones

  A chaotically magical sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle

  HOUSE OF MANY WAYS

  IN WHICH CHARMAIN IS VOLUNTEERED TO LOOK AFTER A WIZARD’S HOUSE

  Sneak preview…

  Mrs Baker had forgotten to pack the books. “Well,” Charmain said, after an interval of blinking and swallowing, “I suppose I’ve never really been away from home before. Next time I go anywhere, I’ll pack the bag myself and fill it with books. I shall make the best of it for now.”

  Making the best of it, she heaved the other bag on to the crowded table and shoved to make room for it. This shunted four milk jugs and a teapot off on to the floor. “And I don’t care!” Charmain said as they fell. Somewhat to her relief, the milk jugs were empty and simply bounced, and the teapot did not break either. It just lay on its side leaking tea on to the floor. “That’s probably the good side to magic,” Charmain said, glumly digging out the topmost meat pasty. She flung her skirts into a bundle between her knees, put her elbows on the table, and took a huge, comforting, savory bite from the pasty.

  Something cold and quivery touched the bare part of her right leg.

  Charmain froze, not daring even to chew. This kitchen is full of big magical slugs! she thought.

  The cold thing touched another part of her leg. With the touch came a very small whispery whine.

  Very slowly, Charmain pulled aside skirt and tablecloth and looked down. Under the table sat an extremely small and ragged white dog, gazing up at her piteously and shaking all over. When it saw Charmain looking down at it, it cocked uneven, frayed-looking white ears and flailed at the floor with its short, wispy tail. Then it whispered out a whine again.

  “Who are you?” Charmain said. “Nobody told me about a dog.”

  Great Uncle William’s voice spoke out of the air once more. “This is Waif. Be very kind to him. He came to me as a stray and he seems to be frightened of everything.”

  *

  Other titles by Diana Wynne Jones

  Chrestomanci Series

  Charmed Life*

  The Magicians of Caprona*

  Witch Week*

  The Lives of Christopher Chant*

  Mixed Magics*

  Conrad’s Fate*

  The Pinhoe Egg

  Archer’s Goon*

  Black Maria*

  Castle in the Air*

  Dogsbody

  Eight Days of Luke

  The Homeward Bounders

  Howl’s Moving Castle*

  The Merlin Conspiracy*

  The Ogre Downstairs

  Power of Three

  Stopping for a Spell

  A Tale of Time City

  Wilkins’ Tooth

  For older readers

  Fire and Hemlock

  Hexwood

  The Time of the Ghost

  For younger readers

  Wild Robert

  *Also available on audio

  Copyright

  First published in the USA by Firebird,

  an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc 2007

  First published in Great Britain by

  HarperCollins Children’s Books 2008

  Harper Collins Children’s Books is a

  division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road,

  Hammersmith, London, W6 8JB

  www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co. uk

  www.dianawynnejones.com

  Copyright © Diana Wynne Jones 2007

  Diana Wynne Jones asserts the moral right

  to be identified as the author of the work.

  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 eBooks.

  ePub edition June 2008 ISBN-9780007281985

  Conditions of Sale

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,

  by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or

  otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written

  consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in

  which it is published and without a similar condition including

  this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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