by James Riley
“Maybe,” Sierra said. “And maybe I’ll try holding Excalibur once I find Ellora. I bet I’m worthy.”
Fort almost choked. “Don’t you dare. You’ll get burned so badly!”
Sierra gasped. “It would never burn me. I’m sure it’d love me!”
“The fire would be seen for miles !” Fort said, imagining the carnage and shuddering.
She stuck out her tongue at him. “You could stop me if you were still in all of this, you know.”
He smiled at that. “I trust you to not actually touch it. Besides, who said I won’t be around? I’m not leaving you to get up to no good, not without me giving you my thoughts at least.” He tapped his head. “But other than that, yeah, I think I’m done. I just can’t take any more of it—the danger, the Old Ones, the surprises, none of it.”
Sierra winced. “No more surprises, huh? Uh-oh.”
He looked at her in shock. “ ‘Uh-oh’? What do you mean?”
“Well, you might not want to open your closet, if you’re done with surprises,” Sierra said, and backed away slightly.
Fort felt the blood drain from his face as a loud cracking noise sounded from behind his closet door.
“Don’t look now, Mr. No Surprises,” Sierra said with a huge grin. “But I think you’re about to be a dad !”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Aww, Fort’s going to be a dad! That’s so cute. I’m sure it’ll all be fine, and he’ll be able to live out the normal life he wished he could have for the last three books. How hard can it be to raise a dragon, after all? Not to mention this Timeless One thing … and the favor he promised the faerie queen.
But how bad could those things end up being?
*cough*
On a happier note, I want to thank you all for reading, as I’d just be telling these stories to myself without you. And the reason they’re as good as they are can be chalked up to the following people: Corinne, my partner in all things, Michael Bourret, my agent, and especially my two editors at Aladdin, Liesa Mignogna and Anna Parsons, who both could easily pull any number of swords from stones.
I also need to give huge thanks to Mara Anastas, my publisher at Aladdin; Chriscyntheia Floyd, my deputy publisher; the marketing team of Alissa Nigro and Caitlin Sweeny; Cassie Malmo and Nicole Russo in publicity; Elizabeth Mims in managing editorial; Sara Berko in production; and Laura DiSiena, the designer of the book; Michelle Leo and the education/library team; Stephanie Voros and the sub rights group, too; Christina Pecorale and the whole sales team; and Vivienne To, whose talent is the reason everyone’s picking these books up to begin with!
See you in the pages of Revenge of Magic: The Timeless One !
More from this Series
The Timeless One
Book 4
The Revenge of Magic
Book 1
The Last Dragon
Book 2
More from the Author
Worlds Apart
Pick the Plot
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author photograph by Maarten de Boer
JAMES RILEY is the New York Times bestselling author of the Story Thieves and Half Upon a Time series. Contrary to what his Story Thieves biography suggests, this really is James. Note to future authors: If you pretend you’re not real, you’ll get lots of questions.
JAMESRILEYAUTHOR.COM
ALADDIN
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/James-Riley
ALSO BY JAMES RILEY
The Revenge of Magic series
The Revenge of Magic
The Last Dragon
The Half Upon a Time series
Half Upon a Time
Twice Upon a Time
Once Upon the End
The Story Thieves series
Story Thieves
The Stolen Chapters
Secret Origins
Pick the Plot
Worlds Apart
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
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First Aladdin hardcover edition March 2020
Text copyright © 2020 by James Riley
Jacket illustration copyright © 2020 by Vivienne To
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Jacket designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Riley, James, 1977- author.
Title: The future king / James Riley.
Description: New York : Aladdin, [2020] | Series: The revenge of magic ; 3 | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4-6. | Summary: When time traveling students from a British magic school warn of a coming world war, Fort and his friends at the
Oppenheimer magic school try to change the future without making things worse.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019038548 (print) | LCCN 2019038549 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534425750 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534425774 (eBook)
Subjects: CYAC: Magic—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Time travel—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.R55 Fu 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.R55 (eBook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038548
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038549
