"Armstrong, Kelley - Otherworld 5 - Haunted" - читать интересную книгу автора (Armstrong Kelley)

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2005 by KLA Fricke Inc.

Cover illustration © 2005 by Franco Accornero

Cover design by Jamie S. Warren Youll

Bantam Books, the rooster colophon, Spectra, and the portrayal of a boxed "s" are trademarks of Random House, Inc.



ISBN 0-553-58708-0



Printed in the United States of America

Published simultaneously in Canada



www.bantamdell.com



To my daughter, Julia.

Like Eve, I know I'll have to start letting go soon

but I'm not quite ready yet.


Acknowledgments



As always, I'm deeply indebted to everyone who helped get my book from that first spark of an idea to a complete novel. Heaps of thanks to my agent, Helen Heller, and my editors: Anne Groell at Bantam US, Anne Collins at Random House Canada, and Antonia Hodgson at Time Warner UK.

A special thanks this time around to my Web site moderators, who've really helped ease the workload on my burgeoning discussion board. To Ian, John, Julia, Katrina, Laura, Raina, Sonny, Taylor, and Tina. Thanks so much—without you guys, I'd never have time to actually write.
France/1666




MARIE-MADELINE LIT THE FLAME UNDER THE BOWL. A draft through the empty fireplace blew it out. She adjusted the metal screen in front of the hearth, then moved the bowl and tried again. As the flame took hold, smoke swirled through the room, filling it with the acrid stink of burning hair and the sweet smell of rosemary.

"Entstehen, mein Nix," she said, tongue tripping over the foreign words. She recited the rest of the incantation. The air rippled.

"You have failed… again," a woman's voice whispered.