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Overview
Inside the Magic is the third in a series of light fantasy chapter books set in Morgantown, a town on the border between the real world and the magical world, by the authors of the Publishers Weekly best selling BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS—a series of 50 books with more than 30 million copies sold!
Oh, no! Mr. Leery has been kidnapped by the evil Queen of the Boggarts. It's up to the apprentice Keyholders Penny, Luke, and Natalie to rescue him. Together with their links, a unicorn named Kirin, a dragon named Dracula, and a rat named Buttercup, the three Keyholders cross the border to the land inside the magic—a place where anything can happen. Will they find Mr. Leery in time?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781429976237 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tor Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 11/03/2009 |
| Series: | Keyholders Series , #3 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 128 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
| Age Range: | 7 - 10 Years |
About the Author
DEBBIE DADEY taught first grade before becoming a librarian. It was while teaching that she first realized how much she wanted to write a book for reluctant readers. Her first book, co-authored with fellow teacher Marcia Thornton Jones, was the result of a very bad day. Since then, Debbie and Marcia have collaborated on more than 125 books with sales of over forty million copies. Their books include the Keyholders series, beginning with This Side of Magic and The Other Side of Magic. Debbie lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with her husband, three dogs, and three children.
MARCIA THORNTON JONES enjoys reading more than anything else. As a teacher, her favorite part of the school day was sharing books with her students. It was that love of reading that drew her to writing. She wanted to write the same kinds of stories that she and her students enjoyed reading. One afternoon she mentioned to the school librarian that she’d always had an interest in writing. The librarian, Debbie Dadey, shared a common desire to write stories that would encourage reading skills while promoting a true joy of reading. The next afternoon, Marcia and Debbie met while their students were at lunch and began writing. That story, Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots, became the first book in their bestselling series, The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids.
Marcia lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, Stephen, and their two cats.
Read an Excerpt
Keyholders #3: Inside the Magic
By Debbie Dadey, Marcia Thornton Jones, Adam Stower
Tom Doherty Associates
Copyright © 2009 Debra S. Dadey and Marcia Thornton JonesAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4299-7623-7
CHAPTER 1
"Is he dead?" Luke whispered.
Natalie pushed Luke aside. "Of course Mo isn't dead. See his sides moving? That means he's still breathing."
"But just barely," Penny said, falling to her knees beside Mo.
When Luke, Penny, and Natalie opened the door to Mr. Leery's house, they had expected to find Mo waiting impatiently. Instead they found a huge pile of feathers motionless on the floor.
Usually, their neighbor's link took the form of a big spotted cat. But when he discovered Mr. Leery had been kidnapped by the Queen of the Boggarts, Mo had turned into his natural form of a griffin.
"Be careful, Penny," Luke warned his best friend.
Penny smoothed the crest of feathers on Mo's head. He looked nothing like a cat anymore. For one thing, he was a lot bigger. Not only that, he had a wicked beak, talons, and powerful wings.
Just a few weeks earlier, Natalie, Luke, and Penny had been three normal kids living in Morgantown. In that short time they had found out that the thick tangle of hedges at the edge of their town was actually a border between the world they knew and a land of magic, and that they had been chosen by a wizard as apprentice Keyholders.
As Keyholders, the kids were chosen to maintain the border and keep the magic world from leaking into the real world. Part of being a Keyholder was wonderful; for example, having a link — an unbreakable lifelong bond with a magical creature. Mo had been Mr. Leery's link for nearly two hundred years. Kirin, a dazzling young unicorn, had selected Penny. Dracula, a rambunctious dragon about the size of a Doberman pinscher, picked Luke. Natalie, on the other hand, wasn't thrilled that she had been chosen by a rat named Buttercup.
Now Penny found herself cradling the head of a beast with talons that could rip a T. rex in half. It was a lot for a fifth grader to handle.
Mo closed his eyes as a spasm shot through his body. Blue, red, green, and orange feathers drifted to the floor. When he opened his eyes again, they were dull and cold. "The Boggart Queen cast a spell. A spell even more powerful than Leery," he whispered.
Humans and their links from the magical realm were so closely connected that when something happened to one, it affected the other. Judging from the way Mo was suffering, whatever had happened to Mr. Leery was bad. Very bad.
"This is your fault," Luke told Natalie. "If you hadn't taken so long packing your stupid pink suitcases we would've been here to help Mo."
"It is not my fault," Natalie said, glaring at Penny. "She wanted to pack, too."
Penny felt guilty. "Natalie's right," Penny said. "I took too long deciding what I needed in the magic land." She looked up at her link. Kirin had once used her unicorn horn to help Penny when she had been hurt rolling down a hill in a garbage can. "Can you help Mo?" she pleaded.
Kirin swished her tail back and forth. "Of course I can," she snapped.
"Wait!" Buttercup squealed, but Kirin kneeled before the fallen griffin and touched her horn to the place right above Mo's heart.
Mo shuddered as if cold water gushed through his veins. A green spark exploded from the spot where Kirin's horn touched the griffin's feathers.
"Ouch!" screamed the unicorn. She fell to the floor as if she'd been struck by lightning.
"What happened?" Penny shrieked.
Dracula bounced across Mr. Leery's living room. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" the small dragon shrieked, sending little flames of his own shooting through the air.
"Stop it! Everyone!" shouted a little, yet very powerful voice. Buttercup was usually a meek rat, but she stomped a back paw in frustration. "The spell on Leery was powerfully cast with a protective shield. Not even unicorn magic can break it."
Kirin struggled up in a clatter of hooves. Her eyes crossed and she snorted when she saw her beautiful horn charred and covered with ash. "My horn! What has that evil queen done to my horn?"
"Your horn will heal itself," Buttercup said. "We have other things to worry about."
Kirin swished her tail so hard she slapped Natalie on the behind. "What is more important than my horn?" the unicorn snapped.
"Leery is," Buttercup pointed out. "And Mo."
Mo lifted his head and whimpered. He had to force out every word. "Find Bridger. He will know. He can help."
The kids stared in horror when Mo's bones popped and cracked. His body turned in on itself as black hair pushed the feathers from his skin. His beak curled inward until it became the face of a cat. In less than a minute, the griffin was gone and a black spotted cat with curled ears lay before them.
"Mo?" Penny asked. "Can you hear us?"
"He has to be able to hear us," Luke said. "We can't find Leery without his help."
But Mo didn't answer them. His breathing was shallow and his paws twitched as if he were locked inside a very bad dream.
"We should call the police," Penny said.
"No!" Kirin told her. "No one can know about the Shadow Realm. No one."
"Besides," Buttercup added, "the police would never believe you."
"Maybe a doctor can help Mo," Luke suggested.
Dracula nudged Luke. "No doctor knows boggart spells."
"The Boggart Queen must be stopped," Natalie said. "And I'm just the one to do it."
"A-hem," came a little voice from the floor.
Natalie looked at her link. "With Buttercup's help, of course."
Dracula hopped up and down. "Stop the Queen! Stop her! Stop her!"
Penny clenched her jaw. Before being kidnapped, Mr. Leery had been training them to find and fix leaks in the border. Natalie was a natural at it. Not Penny and Luke. It rubbed Penny's nerves raw that Natalie could do something better than she could.
"Stop bragging," Luke told Natalie. "Just because you're better at finding leaks in the border, it doesn't mean you're ready to fight the Boggart Queen."
Natalie tapped Luke on the nose with a finger. "I'm more ready than you are."
"Stop it!" Penny said, shoving Natalie and Luke apart. "We need to take care of Mo. Then we'll figure out what to do next."
Luke nodded. "I'll get a pillow and blanket."
"Fine," Natalie said. "I'll get some water."
Kirin blew warm air over the cat, but she was careful not to touch his body. Dracula cried a purple tear when Penny and Luke gently placed Mo on a pillow and covered him up to his chin with a blanket. The cat's whiskers twitched and Mo groaned.
"Where is Natalie with that water?" Penny asked.
"I'll check," Luke said.
After a few minutes, Luke came back to the room waving a piece of paper in the air. "She's gone," he said. "All she left was this note."
Penny looked at Natalie's scrawled words.
"'Gone to save the world!'" Penny read out loud. "Is she nuts? We have to catch up to her! She can't do it alone."
"We should let her try," Luke said. "It would serve her right to fail."
Penny grabbed Luke's arm. "But if she fails, she could die. We can't let that happen. Even if it is Natalie."
Luke sighed. "You're right. We'd better hurry."
Luke glanced around the room once more before leaving. He noticed Mr. Leery's walking stick propped in the corner. Luke reached for it, the carved wood feeling solid and fitting his palm perfectly.
"Why are you taking that?" Penny asked.
Luke gripped the stick firmly in his hand. "Because," he said, "I have a feeling Mr. Leery will need it on the way back."
"If we make it that far," Penny said.
CHAPTER 2"How did Natalie get through?" Penny asked as they stood looking at the thick wall of trees, bushes, and vines behind Mr. Leery's house. Penny knew the answer to her own question. Natalie was much more talented as a Keyholder. She had already mastered how to repair leaks in the border. Penny hadn't even been able to sense where the openings were.
Kirin nudged Penny toward the border. "You're a Keyholder. Why don't you act like one?"
Dracula hopped up and down. "Let me try. Let me try."
Luke placed his hand on his link's head to stop him from bouncing. "Maybe if we try together," he said.
Dracula snuggled beside him and they closed their eyes. Luke's forehead wrinkled as he focused. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Penny was ready to give up hope when she heard a pop.
"You did it!" she shouted, but then there was silence and Luke fell to the ground.
"It's no use," Luke said. "I tried as hard as I could and all I got was a little snap. My cereal makes more noise than that."
Penny felt like crying, but then Kirin nuzzled her arm and whispered, "Help him."
"I can't ..."
Luke grabbed Penny's arm. "Mr. Leery chose us for a reason. You have to try."
"But I'm not ready," Penny said. "I haven't practiced enough."
Luke knew that Penny always studied for weeks for a test, but he also knew that they were out of time. "This is a pop quiz that we can't fail."
Penny nodded and stood next to Luke. Together, the two Keyholders faced the border. Their links stood behind them, gently nuzzling their shoulders. They stood for a long time. Never in all his years of playing basketball had Luke struggled this hard. Never in all her studying, had Penny focused so intensely.
If their eyes had been open, they would have noticed a small wave in the air from their hands to the border. The wave turned into a ripple. Finally, the bushes clicked, clacked, and split open, creating a path for the kids and their links.
"You did it! You did it!" Dracula cheered.
Luke and Penny opened their eyes. "We did?"
"Don't stand around admiring your efforts," Kirin said. "Go before it closes."
"Go! Go! Go!" Dracula shouted, a small puff of smoke forming around his nose with each word.
Luke took a deep breath and led the way into the magic world. As soon as the group was through, the bushes clicked and clacked back together. In a few seconds, there was no indication there had ever been an opening.
None of them moved when they saw one of Natalie's pink rolling suitcases abandoned in a tall clump of thorny weeds. The zipper had been torn away. Clothes were strewn across their path and pink hair ribbons, socks, and underwear hung from tree branches.
"Oh, no," Penny whispered. "We're too late. Something horrible must have happened to her."
"Bad. Bad," Dracula mumbled. A tendril of nervous smoke floated from his nostrils.
A tunnel of trees, bushes, and vines led them deeper into the magic land. The sound of scurrying from both sides of the passageway made the kids turn in a circle.
"Bridger?" Penny said hopefully. "Is that you?"
Bridger was the Lead Elf of Pleasant Rock and one of Mr. Leery's friends. He was also the only one Mo said could help them. On the few times the kids had passed through the border with Mr. Leery, Bridger had always been waiting for them.
"Maybe we should go back," Luke said as something slithered in the bushes near him.
A scream stopped him. "Help me! Somebody help me!"
It sounded just like Natalie. Penny and Luke didn't think twice. They took off down the path with Kirin and Dracula close on their heels.
They hurdled another one of Natalie's suitcases and dodged piles of designer clothes until they reached a small clearing. A screech brought them to a stop. Luke looked up into the treetops to see a skinny goblin dangling Natalie by her feet. Two more goblins giggled in nearby trees. One of them wore Natalie's nightgown.
"It's a trap!" Penny gasped.
"And Natalie led us right into it," Luke added.
Natalie's hair hung down in long strands. Goblin goop dripped from the ends and plopped on the ground. Buttercup dangled out of Natalie's pocket, whiskers and tail trembling.
"We got them! We got them!" chanted the goblins. The one wearing Natalie's nightgown scratched his butt as it swung from tree to tree in a dizzying dance of arms and legs.
Goblin slime splattered all around Penny and Luke. They had to hop away to keep from getting drenched.
"Do something!" Natalie screamed. "They're planning to take us to the Queen!"
"What can we do?" Luke yelled. "It's hopeless."
Penny reached down and grabbed a handful of rocks. She shoved them into Luke's hand. "As long as we have breath, we have hope. You do your thing and I'll do mine!"
It was a known fact that Luke had the best aim of all the basketball players in Morgantown, and Penny was the fastest runner in their school. She proved it right then. She scattered leaves and dirt as she darted first one way, then another.
"Get her! Get her!" screeched the nightgown goblin. Just then Luke hurled a rock. It hit the goblin right on the forehead. "Aaaacck!" screeched the goblin as it tumbled from a branch and crashed to the ground.
The goblin chasing Penny tried to keep up. When Penny zigged, the goblin zigged. When Penny zagged, the goblin zagged. Unfortunately for the goblin, it had to keep its eyes on Penny. That's why it didn't see the giant tree until it was too late.
Thunk! The goblin ran smack-dab into the trunk and slid down to the ground.
Dracula inhaled turkberries from a nearby bush. Dracula loved turkberries, but was allergic to them. Usually, a sneezing dragon is a problem. Not this time. He sniffed. He snorted. Then he let out a sneeze so powerful that a flame shot straight up the tree to the goblin holding Natalie's sneakers.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" screamed Natalie as the goblin dropped her.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" screamed Buttercup from Natalie's pocket as they both fell like rotten apples.
Kirin galloped under Natalie just in time. "Hang on," Kirin warned before she leaped out of the way of the falling goblin.
One goblin swatted his smoking behind. Another rubbed a knot on his head. The third was crying over his skinned knees and elbows. All three glared at the Keyholders and their links.
"Uh-oh," Natalie said as she scrambled off Kirin and grabbed her backpack from the ground. "They don't look very happy."
"I think we better get out of here," Penny said. "Fast."
"We're right behind you," Luke said. "Run!"
CHAPTER 3Kirin crashed through thick underbrush. Dracula dodged limbs and branches. Penny, Luke, and Natalie hurtled through the woods after the two links. Buttercup clung to Natalie's pocket.
"Stop!" Natalie finally gasped. "I. Can't. Breathe."
Luke and Penny slowed to a stop. All three kids bent over, grabbing their sides and gulping air.
Dracula circled overhead, searching the forest for goblins. "I think we've lost them," he told Luke.
Kirin shook her head, sending leaves flying from her mane. "But not for long," she warned. "We aren't safe anywhere on this side of the border."
"I hate goblins," Natalie complained. "Why am I always the one getting slimed?" She shook her head and slung goblin slime into nearby bushes. Wherever slime landed, the bushes cringed and the leaves curled up.
"Slime! Slime!" Dracula said, landing beside them and bouncing with each word.
"Can't you use that horn of yours to clean us up?" Natalie asked Kirin.
The unicorn looked at her as if she had just suggested they eat slugs for breakfast. "My horn is not a washrag," she snorted.
"Then what good is it?" Natalie blurted.
"Leave Kirin out of this," Penny told Natalie. "This is your fault."
"Mine?" Natalie snapped right back. "I didn't do anything."
"Yes, you did," Luke said. "You sneaked out of Leery's without waiting for us."
Buttercup crawled out of Natalie's pocket.
"Excuse me," she said, but the kids were so busy complaining they didn't hear.
Buttercup tugged on Natalie's sleeve. "Excuse me," she said again.
"Not now, Buttercup," Natalie said, putting the rat down on a pile of dried leaves.
"You should be nicer to your link," Penny said. "At least she's not mad at you like we are. You nearly got us captured by goblins."
"I told you, it isn't my fault," Natalie argued. "How was I supposed to know they'd be waiting for me as soon as I slipped through the border? If you ask me, it's that little squirt, Bridger's, fault. He should've been here. Isn't he supposed to always be at our beck and call?"
"Don't let Bridger hear you calling him a squirt," Penny said.
"Elves serve no one," Kirin added. "You'd better learn that lesson very fast."
"Fast! Fast! Fast!" repeated Dracula.
"Whatever," Natalie said. "We still need to find him."
"Natalie has a point," Luke said. "Bridger has always been here before. Where is he now?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Keyholders #3: Inside the Magic by Debbie Dadey, Marcia Thornton Jones, Adam Stower. Copyright © 2009 Debra S. Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. Excerpted by permission of Tom Doherty Associates.
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