Rise of the Arcane Fire (The Secret Order) (37 page)

“You don’t need to understand.” I lifted my chin to look at him. “Just trust in me.”

“I love you, Meg. To the end of my days, I swear it.” He gathered my hand and placed it over his heart.

“That is all I need,” I said as we danced.

WRITING BOOKS MIGHT BE A
solitary effort, but I could not do this as a career without the help and support of so many wonderful people. I’d like to thank my agent, Laura Bradford, for always having a cool and level head no matter what. I give all my heartfelt thanks and good wishes to Anica Mrose Rissi and Courtney Sanks, who helped me so much along the way but now have moved on to new and exciting paths in their careers. I am so glad to have met and worked with my new editor, Liesa Abrams, and I’m very thankful she has taken up the reins and shown such support and enthusiasm for this series. I’d also like to thank Michael Strother for being the lynchpin that seems to hold it all together. Special thanks also go out to my critique partner, Angie Fox, and my beta readers, Julie and Katie Wallace, for their constant encouragement and support.

The covers of these books have been amazing, and I’m so proud and honored to have the talent of Angela Goddard, Regina Flath, and the rest of the Simon & Schuster art department working so hard on such remarkable works of art, especially the sculptor who has created the mechanical creatures, Matthew Lentini.

More than anything, I’d like to thank my new fans and all the bloggers and reviewers who have taken time to read my books and spread the word about them. I’m so grateful to all of you. I couldn’t do this without you.

And finally, I’d like to thank my family. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your love. And thank you for making my life so joyful.

ALSO BY KRISTIN BAILEY

The Secret Order · Book One

Legacy of the Clockwork Key

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SIMON PULSE

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
SimonandSchuster.com

First Simon Pulse hardcover edition February 2014

Text copyright © 2014 by Kristin Welker

Jacket tentacle sculpture and photograph copyright © 2014 by Matthew Lentini

Jacket photographs of Scotland copyright © 2014 by Chris Clor/Getty Images

Jacket design by Regina Flath

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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.

Interior design by Angela Goddard

The text of this book was set in Granjon.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bailey, Kristin, author.

Rise of the arcane fire / Kristin Bailey. — First Simon Pulse hardcover edition.

p. cm. — (The Secret Order ; book 2)

Summary: As the first female member of the Amusementists, an elite secret society in Victorian England dedicated to discovery, Margaret Whitlock is determined to prove her worth—but someone is trying to sabotage the society by altering their inventions to make them dangerous, and it is up to Meg to expose the plot.

ISBN 978-1-4424-6802-3 (alk. paper)

[1. Secret societies—Juvenile fiction. 2. Conspiracies—Juvenile fiction. 3. Sabotage—Juvenile fiction. 4. Inventions—Juvenile fiction. 5. London (England)—History—19th century—Juvenile fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901—Juvenile fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.B15256Ri 2014   [Fic]—dc23   2013033791

ISBN 978-1-4424-6804-7 (eBook)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Acknowledgments

About Kristin Bailey