The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [0]
ALSO BY JAMES A. OWEN
The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Book One: Here, There Be Dragons
Lost Treasures of the Pirates of the Caribbean (with Jeremy Owen)
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by James A. Owen
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a trademark of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Owen, James A.
The search for the Red Dragon / James A. Owen.—1st ed. p. cm.—(The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica; bk. 2) Summary: Nine years after they came together to defeat the Winter King, John, Jack, and Charles return to the Archipelago of Dreams and face a new challenge involving the Lost Boys and giants.
ISBN-13:
ISBN-10: 1-1111-1111-1
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Characters in literature—Fiction. 3. Fantasy—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.O97124Sea 2007 [Fic]—dc22 2007006235
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For Laura
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One Nine Years in the Summer Country
Chapter One
The Angel in the Garden
Chapter Two
The Reluctant Caretaker
Chapter Three
The Lost Boys
Chapter Four
A Dragon Restored
Part Two A History Undone
Chapter Five
The Errant Knight
Chapter Six
The Weaving
Chapter Seven
The Great Whatsit
Chapter Eight
The Friar’s Tale
Part Three The Search for the Red Dragon
Chapter Nine
Shadows in Flight
Chapter Ten
The Tower in the Air
Chapter Eleven
Chamenos Liber
Chapter Twelve
Dante’s Riddle
Part Four Into the Underneath
Chapter Thirteen
Croatoan
Chapter Fourteen
The Imperial Cartological Society
Chapter Fifteen
Haven
Chapter Sixteen
Echo’s Well
Part Five The King of Tears and the Queen of Sorrows
Chapter Seventeen
The Tunesmiths
Chapter Eighteen
Shadows of History
Chapter Nineteen
The Gilded Army
Chapter Twenty
The City of Lost Children
Part Six The Ninth Circle
Chapter Twenty-one
Shadows and Light
Chapter Twenty-two
The Thimble
Chapter Twenty-three
Unraveled
Chapter Twenty-four
Second Star to the Right
Epilogue
Author’s Note
List of Illustrations
Sitting in a disarray…was a small girl.
The small, slight man was barely five feet tall
“…someone is always listening…and someone always comes.”
“Someone give me a hand inside, will you?” Bert cried
The armored scarecrow was chewing something
…three youthful, graceful women of astonishing beauty.
In response to his call, an enormous black crow dropped down
“He refers to the ‘construction’ of two mechanical men…”
“She’s out of your reach, and that’s all that matters.”
High above them, like a great gray comet…
“Cut the line, Jack,” she said softly.
…the rotating water…was forming a gigantic whirlpool.
“Hello, boy,” she said.
“We are the Croatoans. And we are ourselves.”
…a regal, thin-framed man…spread his arms in greeting.
“Hello, Jacks. It’s good to see you.”
They cared about running…they cared about climbing apple trees
The crenellated towers extended all around the orchard and gardens
The other wolves had already begun to growl
“I’m sorry,” the six-armed creature said plaintively. “There have to be forms”
Something else was coming through one of the rifts in Time.
“The King of Crickets,” breathed Bert.
They were chessmen that aspired to be continents
Acknowledgments
The Search for the Red Dragon was easier to begin than its predecessor but was harder to finish, for all the right reasons. I have been overwhelmed by the support and goodwill extended to me by the