Alice would never have thought of herself as a person who would seek revenge. It happened sometimes, in stories, usually when some old king had been done in by a villain and the heroic prince swore never to rest until the responsible party was brought to justice. Pulp heroes on the radio were always getting revenge too, for girlfriends or innocent victims of vicious criminals. It had always seemed a bit stupid to Alice. After all, meting out vengeance wouldn’t bring the victims back, or help their loved ones forget, or do anything except pile one unfortunate tragedy on top of another.

Now, though, she understood. The cold, helpless feeling as she’d watched the images in the mirror play out, as Geryon and Esau fought each other and destroyed her entire life as an afterthought. And the rage, rising like bile from her stomach into the back of her throat, at the thought that Geryon might just get away with it. That if she hadn’t seen those images, she might have come back none the wiser, and lived out her time as an apprentice in the house of the man who’d done more to hurt her than anyone still alive.

And now that she knew, she couldn’t do nothing. She couldn’t. The anger would build inside her, on and on, forever, until it poisoned her. Every time she saw Geryon, she would return to those images, to the wash of electric fire sweeping down on the Gideon. How can I do nothing?

He has to answer for it. Somehow, some way, he has to answer.

She could feel her father’s eyes on her. It felt like if she turned her head, she’d see his face, frowning in disapproval. He wouldn’t like this.

Alice sat, deep in thought, for a long time. As the orange light faded to crimson, and then finally to darkness, she realized she’d made her decision.

Her father wouldn’t like it. But her father was dead. And she would have her revenge.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

My deepest gratitude to the usual suspects:

To Seth Fishman, my agent, for being generally awesome. Also to everyone else at The Gernert Company, Will Roberts, Rebecca Gardner, and Andy Kifer, for also being awesome. Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein is awesome on a completely different continent!

To Elisabeth Fracalossi, my long-serving, long-suffering first reader.

To Kathy Dawson, my editor, for her input and also for putting up with my ignorance of the genre I decided to write in. She has done a great deal to educate me. Also Claire Evans, her assistant, for all her hard work.

To Alexander Jansson, for his spectacular covers and artwork.

To all the hardworking people whose care and effort made this book a reality.

Finally, of course, to everyone who read and spread the word about The Forbidden Library: readers, booksellers, librarians, and parents. I couldn’t do this without you.

About the Author