Peter Lerangis - The Key

HarperCollins Children’s Books

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London, SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2015

Copyright © Peter Lerangis 2015

Cover design by Joe Merkel

Peter Lerangis asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition ISBN: 9780007586646

Version: 2015-01-21

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Copyright Copyright Private Journal: Aliyah Bartevyan Excerpt from Seven Wonders: The Curse of the King Back Ads About the Author About the Publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London, SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2015 Copyright © Peter Lerangis 2015 Cover design by Joe Merkel Peter Lerangis asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Ebook Edition ISBN: 9780007586646 Version: 2015-01-21

Private Journal: Aliyah Bartevyan

Excerpt from Seven Wonders: The Curse of the King Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

Back Ads Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

About the Author Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

About the Publisher Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

(Osman, if you are even breathing within three feet of this, I will personally bash your head and rip up every Beatles poster you own!!!!!)

Tuesday, 11:00 P.M.

DIARY, I’M HAVINGa bad night. My head is full of the Most-Girls thoughts. As in, Most Girls my age don’t live in a dirt hole like mine. Most Girls don’t live in shacks with stolen electricity via a rat-eaten wire from a neighbor. Most Girls go to school, buy nice clothes, read good books, help their mother with housework, take care of a pet.

I, Diary, as you know, am not Most Girls.

My school is the Khalid Bartevyan School of Crazy. I have no regular bedtime. My clothes and books come from other people’s trash. The clothes I hate, the books I like. Right now I am reading American History from 1776 to Now , but every page is missing after about 1910. With Mother gone, housework is optional, and the last pet I had was MoopaSoopa, that fat, snuggly rat who followed Father home from an exploration and met an untimely death by chewing through a live electrical wire.

Well, I have a pet now. Sort of. Her name is Safi, she’s a ferret my father borrowed for his latest scheme, and she’s about as snuggly as a drawer full of needles. But she has … Magical Properties! She will sniff out Treasures Untold from Hidden Places! She is a Millionaire Maker!

Do you believe that, Diary? I don’t. But Father does, of course. Safi is the latest scheme that is going to make us Rich, Rich, Rich!

Ughhh …

Do you know how Father described himself today? As a “Chief Officer of Bartevyan Antiquities Incorporated, Salvage Specialists.” Can you believe that? Bartevyan Antiquities? Some officer—he’s more of a Chief Babysitter to those four or five slovenly, useless men he works with. They come to our house, and when they leave, Father’s bottles are mostly empty.

Ah well, I don’t suppose he can say “Chief Tomb Robber of a Group of Jobless Drunks.” It doesn’t have the same ring.

But back to Safi. I do not like her. Or her owner, a wealthy one-eyed man named Feyyaz the Cyclops—who, by the way, is not snuggly either. They say his missing eye was taken in a rare playful moment by Safi. What Feyyaz lacks in looks, he makes up for in money—and nastiness. No one ever calls him Cyclops to his face, of course. It is said he once chopped off a man’s fingers for shaking his hand without bowing first.