Product Description
Christopher finally uncovers the Raven’s identity in this sixth novel of the award-winning Blackthorn Key series.
The stakes are higher than ever when the Raven sets Christopher up for a horrible crime, leading him to be locked away in London’s most notorious prison. This terrible act is the first in a series of games the Raven plans to play with Christopher…games that are as dangerous as they are challenging.
Once free from prison, Christopher, Tom, and Sally engage in a cat and mouse game with the Raven that takes them all over London. Can Christopher outwit the Raven one final time and finally unmask him? And what price might he have to pay to achieve that? This is the thrilling conclusion to the Blackthorn Key series that fans have been waiting for!
About the Author
Since escaping from university with a pair of degrees in theoretical physics, Kevin Sands has worked as a researcher, a business consultant, and a teacher. He lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of the award-winning and bestselling Blackthorn Key series.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
I COULDN’T SEE.
The hood that bound my head was canvas, so my only light was what filtered through the weave. I gasped, drawing what air I could through the fabric. It stank of dried blood and stale sweat. I wasn’t the first prisoner to wear it.
The cart thundered down the road, bumping on the cobblestones, the wood rattling my bones. I lay in the back, wrists and ankles clamped in chains that jingled with the wagon’s rise and fall. My heart thudded, keeping time with each bang and shudder.
This was the third time they’d moved me since I’d been captured. I didn’t know where they were taking me. But then I didn’t even know why I’d been arrested.
It had happened yesterday, late afternoon—at least I think it was yesterday; I’d lost track of time in the jails. I’d been at Blackthorn with Tom, searching for the few copies of my master’s journals we hadn’t yet been able to find. I needed to replenish some of the ingredients I kept in the apothecary sash I wore hidden around my waist, so I left Tom hunting through the books upstairs while I went down to the workshop to refill the vials.
A commotion in the alley behind my shop drew me to the door. There was a small crowd two doors down, huddled around the crates behind Mr. Ralston’s grocery. I’d made it halfway there when a voice cried out.
“That’s him! The boy! He did it!”
Three men were on me in an instant. I recognized the constable, Mr. Pettiworth, but the other two were strangers. They grabbed my arms and lifted me bodily from the ground.
“Hey!” I’d cried, trying to pull away. “What are you—”
Someone cracked me on the head before I could finish. Dazed, I was carried into the streets, brought to our parish’s jail, and tossed in a cell. I huddled against the back wall, confused and scared, for only a short time before two new men arrived and hauled me out.
Again I tried to ask what was happening. This time, I got a club to the gut for my trouble. I’d obviously been accused of some crime, so I expected the men to cart me off to the courthouse. I almost welcomed it; at least someone there would tell me why I’d been arrested.
Yet I wasn’t taken to the courthouse. Instead, the men threw a hood over my head and carted me to a different jail. There I remained for several hours until I was moved once again. With the hood on, I couldn’t tell where. All I knew from the pinpricks of torchlight through the canvas was that it was the middle of the night.
I’d never been arrested before. I didn’t know what the procedure was, exactly. But I knew nothing about this was normal. And that scared me more than anything else.
They left the hood on in my new cell. I huddled in the corner until they moved me a third time—and by the daylight now streaming through the fabric, I could tell the whole night had passed since I’d been captured. They dumped me in the back of
