Magisterium (33 page)

Glenn turned at the trill of a whistle behind her. A small shadow flitted through the trees and lit on a branch nearby. She could just make out its black body and the fringe of silver on its long tail. Its tiny heartbeat was slow and steady, a pinprick of warmth in the cold of the forest. The callowell looked down at Glenn with blank, glossy eyes. As

it watched her, another landed nearby, and then another. Soon the trees were filled with hundreds of them, watching her in grim ranks, awaiting her command.

The Colloquium lay out in the dark beyond the border. She could almost see the clean bright lines of its buildings and hear the hum of its people. How long until they came for all of them again? What would she have to do to protect her new home? Who would she have to become?

The flock called out to her in one voice, eager to do her bidding, but Glenn dismissed them all with a wave of her hand. There was a rush of wings, like a chorus of whispering voices, and then silence.

Glenn knew it wasn’t over, though. This world would do all it could to change her. She just hoped she had the strength to fight it.

A hand brushed hers and Glenn turned to find Kevin and Aamon waiting. Glenn locked her hand tight in Kevin’s and turned her back on the Colloquium. As they crossed back into her new home, she felt everything behind them recede into the darkness, fading, until all that was left was her and Kevin and Aamon — and the new world that lay ahead.

Thanks to every student, teacher, bookseller, librarian, blogger, and reader I met or talked to while zipping across the country and talking about my books in the past year. You all have filled me with enough hope and inspiration to fill a thousand books.

If I could, I would like to thank every single employee of

Scholastic for making the last couple of years ridiculously awesome, but they tell me there’s not enough room for that. So, my apologies to those I can’t mention and thanks to: my awesome editors, David Levithan and Cassandra Pelham, Lauren Felsenstein, Tracy van Straaten, Lizette Serrano, Bess Braswell, Emily Sharpe, Emily Heddleson, Ed Masessa, Antonio Gonzalez, Paul Gagne, and Nikki

Mutch.

For invaluable criticism, a big thank-you to Ken Weitzman, Andy Marino, Ryan Palmer, and Emily Isovitsch. Thanks also to my good friends at the League of Extraordinary Writers, Beth Revis, Elana Johnson, Julia Karr, and Angie Smibert.

Thanks to my agent, the intrepid Sara Crowe.

Lastly, thanks to Mom and Dad and Lara, Patty and David, and my silly and delightful wife, Gretchen.

Jeff Hirsch graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with an MFA in Dramatic Writing and is the
USA Today
bestselling author of
The Eleventh Plague
. He lives in Beacon, New York, with his wife. Visit him online at www.jeff-hirsch.com.

Copyright © 2012 by Jeff Hirsch

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hirsch, Jeff.

Magisterium / Jeff Hirsch. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In the twenty-second century, Glennora Morgan’s

father has been working on a project that will allow him to penetrate the Rift border and retrieve Glennora’s mother; but now that he has succeeded the Authority is suddenly trying to kill them both, and Glennora and her friend Kevin must flee into the Magisterium to escape them.

ISBN: 978-0-545-29018-0

1. Conspiracies — Juvenile fiction. 2. Inventions — Juvenile fiction. 3. Escapes — Juvenile fiction. 4. Parent and child — Juvenile fiction. 5. Friendship — Juvenile fiction. [1. Science fiction. 2.

Conspiracies — Fiction. 3. Inventions — Fiction. 4. Escapes — Fiction.

5. Parent and child — Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.H59787Mag 2012813.6 —

dc23

2011050775

First edition, October 2012

e-ISBN: 978-0-545-46988-3

Cover art & design © 2012 by Phil Falco

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American

Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.