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Back The Wild Ones Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR The Wild Ones
  3. Title Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. The Beginning, or How Paheli Became the First Wild One; With a Cameo by Taraana, the Boy Made of Stars.
  7. An Introduction; Hold On to Your Hats.
  8. The Sweetness in the Sugarcane, or The Impractical Nature of Immortality
  9. Paheli: The Vagrant Experiences of a Mango Addict
  10. Cotton Candy Sugar Screams
  11. From the Book of MEMORIES
  12. “Will You Walk into My Parlor?” Said the Spider to the Fly.
  13. The Best Ice Cream in the World, Teddy Bears, and a Tree Creature.
  14. From the Book of MEMORIES
  15. I.
  16. The Reappearance of the Boy Made of Stars and the Plight of the Girl by the Oleander Lane.
  17. Paheli: An Interlude in Blue
  18. Besieged in the Between
  19. Tea, the City of Stairs, and the Story of a Boy
  20. From the Book of MEMORIES
  21. Heartbreak, Stone Buildings, and Tandoori
  22. Observations, Conversations, and Hot Parantha
  23. Paheli: The Spies Who Came In from the Between
  24. From the Book of MEMORIES
  25. The French Quarter, the Spanish Half, and Eulalie
  26. Paheli: The Eggplant Overture
  27. Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”
  28. From the Book of MEMORIES
  29. The Keeper of the Green and the Mysteries of Magic
  30. Blood and the Between
  31. The Library of the Lost and the Stories of the Silenced
  32. Walking in Wicked Ways or The Importance of Balık Ekmek
  33. From the Book of MEMORIES
  34. Looking for the Needle in the Haystack
  35. Paheli: The Peculiar Crackle in the Electricity
  36. Ten Degrees Past Despair
  37. The Fault in the Stars
  38. The Blue City in the Mountains
  39. Paheli: Disharmony in the Attics
  40. From the Book of MEMORIES
  41. Paheli: Continued
  42. The Politics of a Body, the Politics of Pleasure
  43. The Medina, the Riad, and the Red City
  44. Paheli: The Atlas Mountains, the Cozy Rooftop, and the Confession, Possibly of Love
  45. From the Book of MEMORIES
  46. Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos
  47. Jemaa el-Fna: The Mosque at the End of the World
  48. Paheli: A Moment in Chartreuse
  49. From the Book of MEMORIES
  50. Paheli: On the Frailties of the Heart
  51. Sonagi, or A Sudden Rain
  52. Paheli: The Cheese in the Trap
  53. Paheli: The Maze and the Minotaur
  54. A New Era, a New Dar; the River Sings
  55. The Burning Door, the Fallen City, and Taraana 2.0
  56. Paheli: The Beginning of Forever
  57. From the Book of MEMORIES
  58. Moving One Rock at a Time Will Eventually Move a Mountain, aka Goodbye
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. More from the Author
  61. About the Author

“Despite the arrogance and superiority evinced by middle worlders, they, we, cannot survive without human beings. Isn’t that funny?” No, it really is not, but okay. We continue listening. “The magic middle worlders need to live is generated by human lives. Specifically, the life and death of human beings generate magic that is eventually used by the middle worlders for energy, sustenance, and as a form of currency. With me so far?”

We nod. Mama Magdaline pauses to eat a scone and sip some tea.

“However, the magic generated by the life and death of humans is like crude oil. For it to gain a form usable by middle worlders, it needs to be refined. That is where the Between comes in. The Between is much more than a magical corridor; it is the source of magic in the natural world. Like an oil refinery takes crude oil and separates it into different forms of usable oil, so does the Between take the original magic and refine it into magic found in the natural world. Do you follow me?”

Our wide eyes and arrested faces answer her.

“The refined magic is further refined by the rivers and lakes or green and growing things, or metals and gems, to create different varieties of magic, but the point is, all of these magics share a point of origin, and they all require the Between to process the original.” Mama Magdaline takes a breath.

“And the keeper?” Areum prompts.

“I’m getting to the keeper, child. Patience.” The rebuke falls short and Areum grins unrepentantly.

“The last Keeper of the Between that I remember walked the Between when I was a child. It has been a long time since then.” Mama Magdaline’s expression is softened by nostalgia, not that she shares what she is remembering. “The blood of the Keeper of the Green has the essence of green and growing things. The blood of the Keeper of the Rivers and Lakes is filled with the essence of the rivers and lakes, just like the Keeper of Precious Gems has the essence of gold in their blood. The Keeper of the Between, however, always has the blood of a human being because their job is to facilitate the conversion of the crude magic into refined magic. The Keepers of the Between always begin as humans.”

“If the Keepers of the Between are so important to the flow of magic, why is Taraana being hunted like this?” Valentina demands.