Cover

Wilderlore

The Weeping Tide

Amanda Foody

Title Page

Dedication

TO GOLDIE AND PEACH, MY FIRST PET AND A CARNIVAL PRIZE-YOU WERE BOTH EXCELLENT GOLDFISH

ONE

Barclay Thorne was running so fast he nearly ran straight off the edge of the world.

“Whoa!” he shouted, swerving just before the ground dropped into cliffside. His arms flailed out as he lost his balance, and he tumbled backward onto the tall grass and soppy mud. Then he crawled to the cliff’s edge and stared out at the most incredible sight he’d ever seen.

It was gray—gray water stretching out on and on until it met gray horizon. For thirteen weeks, Barclay had been traveling, and though he’d passed many places on his journey—quaint villages, grand cities, and untouched wilds—this was the first moment he felt truly on an adventure.

They had finally reached the Sea.

“This isn’t the Sea,” said a voice flatly, and Tadg Murdock stepped beside him. Tadg was a Lore Keeper apprentice, just like Barclay. And he’d faced the Legendary Beast of the Woods, just like Barclay. But they were far from friends. “This is a gulf. It doesn’t look anything like the Sea.”

Barclay bristled. He had no way of knowing that. He was from the Elsewheres, which was Lore Keeper talk for any land without magical Beasts. More precisely, Barclay was from Dullshire, a small and silly town nestled beyond the edge of the Woods, another of the six Wilderlands. And one very, very far from here.

“What does the Sea look like, then?” asked Barclay. He couldn’t imagine a body of water bigger than this. With a nervous gulp, he inched forward and peeked down the drop. Waves lapped at the rocks hundreds of feet below.

Tadg rolled his eyes. “Believe me—when we get to the Sea, you’ll know.”

Whether or not that was true, Barclay refused to let Tadg spoil his adventure. Barclay glanced behind them to make sure they were alone, and then he whispered, “Root, you need to see this.”

At the summons, a huge wolflike creature appeared at Barclay’s other side, his fur so dark and shaggy that it looked like coils of wildfire smoke. He had black eyes and black claws to match, and stark white bones jutted out at the base of his spine.

Barclay had once found Root terrifying, because everyone from the Elsewheres was raised to fear all Beasts and their dangerous magic. But now he slung his arm around Root’s back and leaned into the Beast’s side.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” he asked.

Root shook his head, wagging his tail eagerly.

Beside them, Tadg could only grimace.

“What is it?” Barclay asked, though Tadg never needed an excuse to be a grouch.

“It’s home,” Tadg grumbled.