Goblin Secrets
Authors: William Alexander
ROWNIE
is the youngest in a hodgepodge household of stray children collected by Graba the witch. His older brother, Rowan, has vanished after performing in a secret play, and Rownie feels lost without him. Acting is illegal in the city of Zombay. No one may wear a mask and pretend to be someone else. Only goblins may legally perform, for they are the Changed—neither human nor other, belonging nowhere.
Rownie meets a traveling troupe of goblins who promise to teach him the secrets of mask-craft and entice him with the hope of finding Rowan. But Graba does not give up her own easily and hunts for them both. As Rownie searches for his brother, the true power of masks—and those who wear them—is revealed. Are the goblins what they seem to be? What fateful magic lies hidden in the heart of Zombay?
Mystery and adventure are woven through with charm and humor in this beguiling exploration of family, love, identity, and the power of words to shape what is real.
William Alexander
studied theater and folklore at Oberlin College and English at the University of Vermont. He currently lives, writes, and teaches in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His short stories have been published in many magazines and anthologies, including
Weird Tales
,
Lady
Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
,
Interfictions 2
, and
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition
. Visit him at
willalex.net
.
JACKET DESIGN BY DEBRA SFETSIOS-CONOVER
JACKET ILLUSTRATION COPYRIGHT © 2012
BY ALEXANDER JANNSON
MARGARET K. MCELDERRY BOOKS
SIMON & SCHUSTER
NEW YORK
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G
OBLIN
S
ECRETS
MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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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 © 2012 by William Alexander
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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ARGARET
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LDERRY
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OOKS
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Book design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover
The text for this book is set in Adobe Caslon.
0212 FFG
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alexander, William (William Joseph), 1976–
Goblin secrets / William Alexander.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Hoping to find his lost brother, Rownie escapes the home of the witch Graba and joins a troupe of goblins who perform in Zombay, a city where humans are forbidden to wear masks and act in plays.
ISBN 978-1-4424-2726-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4424-2728-0 (eBook)
[1. Fantasy. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Goblins—Fiction. 4. Entertainers—Fiction.
5. Masks—Fiction. 6. Missing persons—Fiction. 7. Brothers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A3787Gob 2012
[E]—dc23
2011015491
for Liam
G
OBLIN
S
ECRETS
ROWNIE WOKE WHEN GRABA
knocked on the ceiling from the other side. Plaster dust drifted down from the knocking. Graba knocked again. Baskets hung on chains from the rafters, and they shook when she knocked.
Rownie sat up and tried to blink sleep-sand and plaster dust from one eye. The whole floor was covered by a bed made up of straw, stolen clothes sewn into blankets, and sleeping siblings. Two of his brothers crawled up out of the straw, Blotches and Stubble. Blotches had orange hair, orange freckles, and orange teeth. Stubble was the oldest and the tallest, and he liked to say that he had a beard. He didn’t. He had stray hairs on the tip of his chin and on his cheeks near his ears.
Their sister Vass came in from the girls’ room, which was really the same room with a blanket hung across the middle. Vass had been her name before she came to live with Graba. Sometimes Graba’s grandchildren kept the
names they had before. Sometimes they made up names for themselves. Blotches and Stubble had made up their own names.
“Hurry,” Vass snapped.
Rownie got to his feet, combed the straw out of his hair with his fingers, and stumbled away from the middle of the room. He stood with Vass and Blotches while Stubble pulled the rope that lowered the stairway down from the ceiling. The musty smell of Graba’s loft came down with it.
Vass went upstairs. The others followed her. Rownie came last.
There were birds everywhere in Graba’s loft. Most were pigeons, gray and mangy. Some were chickens. A few larger, stranger birds perched in dark corners, watchful.