Spirits in the Park

Table of Contents

 

 

 

DUTTON CHILDREN'S BOOKS
A division of Penguin Young Readers Group

PUBLISHED BY THE PENGUIN GROUP

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. · Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) · Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England · Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
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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.

Copyright © 2009 by Scott Mebus

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

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

eISBN : 978-1-101-05261-7

[1. Fantasy. 2. Space and time—Fiction. 3. Gods—Fiction. 4. Goddesses—Fiction. 5. Spirits—Fiction.
6. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 7. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 8. New York (N.Y.)—History—
Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M512675Gv 2009
[Fic]—dc22 2008034229

 

Published in the United States by Dutton Children's Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 ·
www.penguin.com/youngreaders

 

To Dave Dunton, for your
unwavering belief

Rory Hennessy
—
A thirteen-year-old boy; the last Light in New York City

Bridget Hennessy
—
Younger sister to Rory Hennessy

Lillian Hennessy
—
Mother to Rory and Bridget Hennessy

Peter Hennessy
—
Rory and Bridget's father; missing for past ten years

Tucket
—
A spirit dog

Toy
—
A papier-mâché boy

Olatheā
Owner of mysterious wampum necklace

Harry Meester
—
A murderer

Alexa van der Donck
—
Daughter of Adriaen van der Donck

Simon Astor
—
Son of John Jacob Astor

Lincoln Douglass
—
Son of Frederick Douglass

■
THE M'GAROTH CLAN
■

Fritz M'Garoth
—
Lieutenant-Captain and Rat Rider of M'Garoth Clan

Haāns
—
Member of M'Garoth Patrol

Sergeant Kiffer
—
Member of M'Garoth Patrol

■
GODS OF MANHATTAN
■

Māyor Alexander Hamilton
—
God of Finance; Mayor of the Gods of Manhattan

Willem Kieft
—
First Adviser to Mayor

Peter Stuyvesant
—
God of Things Were Better in the Old Days

Cāesar Prince
—
God of Under the Streets

T. R. Tobias
—
God of Banking

Wālt Whitman
—
God of Optimism

Cātain Kidd
—
God of Pirates

Mrs. Astor
—
Goddess of Society

Washington Irving
—
God of Tall Tales

George Gershwin
—
God of Snappy Tunes

 

Wampāge
—
Only Munsee to escape the Trap

Penhawitz
—
Sachem of the Munsees

Sooleawa
—
Daughter of Penhawitz; sister of Tackapausha; Medicine Woman

Sokanen
(Soka for short)—
Daughter of Sooleawa; Sister of Tammand

Tāmmand
—
Son of Sooleawa; Brother of Soka

Askook
—
A magician

Chogān
—
A tanner

Buckongāhelas
—
Murdered son of Tackapausha

Pierre Duchāmp
—
A trapper

Finn Lee
—
Grandson of Pierre Duchamp

William “Bill the BÅ«tcher” Poole
—
A convict

Māry “Typhoid Māry” Māllon
—
A convict

The Abbess
—
Founder of the convent on Swinburne Island

Sly Jimmy
—
Member of the B'wry Boys

Blood
(Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, etc.)—
The restriction of a divine being to
the boroughs where his or her mortal self was known to dwell. For example, a god whose mortal self lived on a farm in the Bronx possesses “Bronx blood.”

Sachem
—
Munsee word meaning “chief”

Shell Pit
—
Place of power for the Munsees

The Sāchem's Belt
—
Belt of powerful wampum

The Trap
—
Barrier erected around Central Park to keep the Munsees in
,
and
New York spirits and gods out

Wāmpum
—
Jewelry made from seashells; common source of Munsee magic

T
he boy walked slowly down the city sidewalk bouncing a dusty basketball. Sweat sent dirty streaks down his forehead; he wiped his face with the back of his free hand, blinking furiously when he missed a drop before it could dive-bomb his eyes with its saltwater sting.

The city was hot, too hot, and had been for weeks now. 101, 102, 103: the city was running a fever and no one seemed to know when it would break. The asphalt sizzled under the burning sun, causing the thick, heavy air to shimmer above the sidewalks as if all of Manhattan were one huge mirage. The trees that lined the city blocks wilted under the assault. Those with the pocketbooks fled to the countryside, desperately seeking the sandy beaches of Long Island or the Jersey Shore. Those without hid inside their cool apartments, huddled around overworked, sputtering air conditioners.

The streets of Manhattan were eerily quiet, and so the thwack of the basketball hitting the sidewalk rang much louder than it should have, breaking a silence usually unknown in the great city. Except for the tawny dog trotting gamely at his side, the boy could have been all alone in an empty metropolis. But he was most definitely not alone.

The jerm kept its distance, gliding along the hot sidewalk a couple of car lengths behind its prey. It knew it would have to strike quickly when the time came, for the dog at the boy's side would not be affected by the jerm's poison, and the golden beast would have the would-be attacker in its jaws in a moment if alerted to its presence. The jerm was not a bright creature, but it knew how to adapt to the situation. Just yesterday it had been going about its usual business—the business of all jerms, running its sluglike, mucus-covered body over public phones and doorknobs, leaving behind a film of sickness for the mortals who touched it to contract. Nothing too deadly, just a summer flu. But enough to put whoever caught the bug out of commission for a while. Then it had felt the call, sending it on this mission that ultimately led to the boy walking just ahead.

The boy stopped for a second to tie his shoe and the jerm held back. Most mortals could never have seen the creature. But this boy was different. He was a Light. He could see Mannahatta, the spirit city that overlapped Manhattan. If the boy glanced in the jerm's direction, he would be able to see the glistening slug the size of a football pulsating on the sidewalk, a long line of green slime extending into the distance, marking its trail. If that happened, then the jerm would have to move fast. It had been saving up its secretions, the excess mucus puffing it up to twice its normal size. When the mucus found its way into the boy's skin, he would contract a flu so powerful he should be dead within hours.

The boy fiddled with his shoelace without looking in the jerm's direction, but the dog was sniffing the air. The longer the jerm waited, the more likely it became that the dog would pick up its scent. It would never have a better chance than now, it decided, with the boy distracted by his shoe and unable to move quickly. Seizing the moment, the jerm slid forward, picking up speed, ready to launch itself past the dog and onto its quarry to finish the job.