The Keeper (38 page)

A place the majority of Wugmorts go every seventh light to listen to a sermonizer.

unicorn \′yoo-n
-k
rn\

A noble and gentle beast characterized by a brilliantly white coat and mane of gold, with shiny black eyes and a regal horn the color of silver. The soft horn of the unicorn is known to defeat all poisons, but can only be obtained by convincing the unicorn to surrender it freely or by killing the beast outright.

Valhall \′val-hal\

The prison of Wormwood, set in public in the center of the village.

wendigo \′wen-d
-gō\

A malevolent spirit that can possess whatever it devours. This ghastly, quasi-transparent creature lives throughout the Quag but is predominant in the Mycanmoor. Signs that a wendigo is nearby are a vague feeling of terror and a sense that the facts stored in your head are being replaced by residual memories of the prey the wendigo has devoured.

whist \′wist\

A large, domesticated hound of Wormwood known for its impressive speed.

Wugmort (Wug for short) \′w
g-mort\ (\′w
g\)

A citizen of Wormwood.

A novel does not come into being solely by the hand (and imagination) of the novelist.
The Keeper
, and before it
The Finisher
, are no exceptions to this rule. Many talented folks were involved in making the Vega Jane journey available to a global audience. And here is where I have the welcome pleasure of thanking them.

To Rachel Griffiths, David Levithan, Kelly Ashton, Julie Amitie, Charisse Meloto, Dick Robinson, Ellie Berger, Lori Benton, Dave Ascher, Lauren Festa, Emily Morrow, Elizabeth Parisi, Rachael Hicks, Emily Cullings, Sue Flynn, Nikki Mutch and the whole sales team at Scholastic for believing that a thriller writer could move to another genre and tell a good story.

To Venetia Gosling, Kat McKenna, Catherine Alport, Sarah Clarke, Rachel Vale, Alyx Price, Tracey Ridgewell, Helen Bray, Trisha Jackson, Jeremy Trevathan, Katie James, Lee Dibble, Sarah McLean, Charlotte Williams, Stacey Hamilton, Geoff Duffield, Leanne Williams, Stuart Dwyer, Anna Bond, Jonathan Atkins, Sara Lloyd and Natasha Harding at Pan Macmillan for following me with unbridled enthusiasm wherever I go in my literary pursuits.

To Steven Maat and the entire Bruna team for being with me step-by-step as we released a brand-new character on an unsuspecting world.

To Aaron Priest for listening to my cryptic mumbles at a London book party about this “book” I was writing and for calling me on Sunday after he read it, as opposed to Monday!

To Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs Baker, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, John Richmond and Melissa Edwards for being so wildly enthusiastic about this series.

To Mark and Nicole James for all you did for me. Here’s to attending the premiere together one day!

To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette for crowing to the heavens about the book on the other side of the pond.

To all my other publishers who took a chance on this and trusted me to get it right.

To Hannah Minghella, Lauren Abrahams, Matt Tolmach and Kate Checchi at Sony/Columbia Pictures who have shown so much enthusiasm in building a movie franchise around Vega Jane and her world.

To Emma Frost for sitting in a restaurant in New York with me for several hours in preparation of your crafting a terrific script.

To all the libraries where I discovered books that introduced me to the world of fantasy, and to all the librarians who guided a little boy in finding ever-new stories and original voices on the shelves.

To all my friends and family, who have supported me over thirty novels.

To Kristen and Natasha for performing your own magic in keeping Columbus Rose and me running smoothly.

And last, but clearly not least, to Spencer and Collin, who, though you’re now adults, help me always to retain the childlike wonder in life that allows me to do what I love.

DAVID BALDACCI
is a global #1 bestselling author. His books are published in over forty-five languages and in more than eighty countries; over 110 million copies are in print. His works have been adapted for both feature film and television. He is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation
®
, which supports literacy efforts across America. David and his family live in Virginia.

Copyright © 2015 by Columbus Rose, Ltd.

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baldacci, David, author.
The keeper / David Baldacci. — First edition.
pages cm
Sequel to: The finisher.
Summary: Vega Jane and her friend Delph have taken the map that Quentin Herms left them and set out from the town of Wormwood, determined to brave the Quag and find freedom on the other side — but the Quag was designed to keep the town people in, and it is filled with bloodthirsty creatures and sinister magic, and it is not going to let them escape unscathed.
ISBN 978-0-545-83194-9 (jacketed hardcover) 1. Magic — Juvenile fiction. 2. Quests (Expeditions) — Juvenile fiction. 3. Escapes — Juvenile fiction. 4. Adventure stories. [1. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.B18124Ke 2015
813.54 — dc23
[Fic]
2015015698

First edition, September 2015

Cover art by Jacey @ début art, © 2015 Scholastic Inc.
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi & Carol Ly
Author photo by Alexander James

e-ISBN 978-0-545-83315-8

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.