Book Read Free

The Future King

Page 26

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

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  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.

  ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  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

 

 

 


‹ Prev