Jack’s other dog, Ash, the placid labrador, was with Jack. She always joined him for this morning ritual on the porch, happily curling up at his feet.

Jack looked down at the dog and saw a faded old tennis ball nearby, the ball that Ash famously refused to fetch for anyone.

Jack thought about that day on the pinnacle and shrugged to himself.

He picked up the ball.

‘Hey, Ash.’

The dog looked up at him.

He tossed the ball a short distance off the porch.

‘Fetch the ball, Ash,’ he said gently.

The dog gave him her usual unimpressed look . . .

. . . but then she stood, trotted off the porch, picked up the ball in her teeth, brought it back and dropped it at Jack’s feet.

And at that Jack West Jr smiled and took a deep satisfied sip of his coffee.

THE END

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Well, I guess we’ve reached the end, so I think it’s appropriate for me to mention those people who’ve helped it all happen.

First, my thanks to Cate Paterson, my longtime publisher at Pan Macmillan. She was the one who discovered a copy of Contest way back in 1996 and signed me up to a two-book deal. She was there again in 2004 when I said I was writing a non-Scarecrow book that would feature a new hero, an adventurer named Jack West Jr who would go in search of ancient artefacts in ancient places. That book would be called Seven Ancient Wonders. It came out in 2005. Cate has supported every book of mine and has been a champion of me since the beginning.

This is no small thing. In Australia, I think it’s fair to say, the literary world kind of looks down its nose at big blockbuster fiction, and yet Cate—like me—has always just pressed on publishing it because, well, those are the kinds of books she enjoys reading! I would not be here without her.

My editor, Alex Lloyd, has done a superb job with the Jack West Jr books (and quite a few of my standalone novels, too), with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the series, detailed mind, and tireless work ethic. Seriously, it’s very hard work keeping up with me, especially with all the diagrams, but he has done that admirably!

Speaking of the diagrams, Gavin Tyrrell deserves a shout-out. As the books became more complex, so did the pictures, and Gavin does them all so well. He has also created all the Jack West cover art since The Four Legendary Kingdoms and those awesome covers speak for themselves. I don’t think any series has had such a wonderful and consistent theme to its covers (Gavin even did the recent special edition of The Seven Ancient Wonders so that it matched all the other books).

My publicist at Pan Macmillan, Tracey Cheetham, organises all the touring and media, and is unmatched in Australian publishing, maybe even in world publishing.