The Shadowhand Covenant (31 page)

I raised an eyebrow. “Me? Teach you?”

“All teachers learn from their pupils,” she said. “Sometimes, in ways that aren't so obvious. But they do.”

I'm not sure I quite understood what she meant. But there was only one way to find out. I had a feeling our time together would go well beyond the first year.

“Are you still up for learning ancient par-Goblin?” I asked.

The Dowager's head tilted back and forth with childlike
excitement. “The minute we return to Redvalor.”

She continued to peruse Kolo's papers. I skipped to the end to review his work on using blackdrupe pits to ease the symptoms of whiteflu. There, at the bottom of the page, was a hastily scribbled note that hadn't been there the last time I'd read these papers. I guessed Kolo had written it while in the High Laird's dungeon.

Jaxter—

Volo ser voli.

Yesterday is today.

Then, below that, in much darker ink and underlined many times, it said:

It's happening again.

BRIAN FARREY
acquires young adult fiction for Flux. He and he alone has the power to make you an honorary Grimjinx. (You know you want it.) He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and you can find him online at www.grimjinx.com.

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The Vengekeep Prophecies

Cover art © 2013 by Brett Helquist

Cover design by Megan Stitt

T
HE SHADOWHAND COVENANT
. Text copyright © 2013 by Brian Farrey. Interior illustrations and cover art copyright © 2013 by Brett Helquist. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

ISBN 978-0-06-204931-5

EPub Edition August 2013 ISBN 9780062049339

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CG/RRDH
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