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By Root 514 0

never knew. Hardly anybody did, but when news came out she was killed, people who did know started talkin’. Turns out she was Noah Appleton’s little girl. Noah got killed in a huntin’ accident shortly after Marcie was born. Not too long after that her mama took up with this Kurek fellow from Shamong and married him. Left her kinfolk and never looked back. Even let this Kurek fellow adopt Marcie and change her name. That gal may’ve lived in Shamong, but she was born in the Pines, and once a piney, always a piney.”

Jack shook his head. “So Saree was right.”

He now understood what Mrs. C had meant when she insisted the scales were balanced.

“Yeah, her talent held true. And yours … if it ain’t teleportin’, what is it?”

Jack held up his hands, palms out. “Enough. I’m not doing this again.”

“Okay, okay. Have it your way. But I’m a-gonna figger out your talent. I’m a-gonna keep an eye on you, and when I catch you usin’ it, I’ll know.”

Jack didn’t like the idea of anybody watching him, especially a weird piney, but he stayed cool.

“Well, Levi, you’ve got an awfully boring life ahead of you. And what’s with all this ‘talent’ talk? You got some sort of special talent yourself?”

He sensed a wall go up around Levi. He was still right beside him but it felt like he’d teleported ten feet away.

“We ain’t allowed to talk about that.”

There it was again: We.

“What do—?”

“Gotta go,” Levi said, and trotted off toward the shadows.

“Hey, wait!”

“Be seein’ you.”

And then he was gone.

Be seein’ you …

That sounded too much like Be watching you … and that gave Jack the creeps.

And who were the “we” he mentioned, the ones who weren’t allowed to talk about supposed “talents”?

Jack wondered if he’d ever know.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

For readers who wish to know a little more about Weird Walt and the secret behind his odd behavior, I suggest the 2009 reprint of The Touch. The novel’s prequel, “Dat Tay Vao,” is included. Together they offer a glimpse into the gift/curse that rules Walter Erskine’s life.

THE SECRET HISTORY

OF THE WORLD

The preponderance of my work deals with a history of the world that remains undiscovered, unexplored, and unknown to most of humanity. Some of this secret history has been revealed in the Adversary Cycle, some in the Repairman Jack novels, and bits and pieces in other, seemingly unconnected works. Taken together, even these millions of words barely scratch the surface of what has been going on behind the scenes, hidden from the workaday world. I’ve listed them below in the chronological order in which the events in them occur.

Note: “Year Zero” is the end of civilization as we know it; “Year Zero Minus One” is the year preceding it, etc.

THE PAST

“Demonsong” (prehistory)

“Aryans and Absinthe”** (1923–1924)

Black Wind (1926–1945)

The Keep (1941)

Reborn (February–March 1968)

“Dat Tay Vao”*** (March 1968)

Jack: Secret Histories (1983)

Jack: Secret Circles (1983)

Jack: Secret Vengeance (1983)

YEAR ZERO MINUS THREE

Sibs (February)

“Faces”* (early summer)

The Tomb (summer)

“The Barrens”* (ends in September)

“The Wringer”

“A Day in the Life”* (October)

“The Long Way Home”

Legacies (December)

YEAR ZERO MINUS TWO

Conspiracies (April) (includes “Home Repairs”)

“Interlude at Duane’s”** (April)

All the Rage (May) (includes “The Last Rakosh”)

Hosts (June)

The Haunted Air (August)

Gateways (September)

Crisscross (November)

Infernal (December)

YEAR ZERO MINUS ONE

Harbingers (January)

Bloodline (April)

By the Sword (May)

Ground Zero (July)

The Touch (ends in August)

The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium (ends in September)

“Tenants”*

YEAR ZERO

“Pelts”*

Reprisal (ends in February)

Fatal Error (ends in February)

The Dark at the End (March)

Nightworld (starts in May)

Reprisal will be back in print before too long. “Dat Tay Vao” is included in the recent reprint of The Touch.