Kathryn Lasky - The Shattering

COPYRIGHT

HarperCollins Children’s Books An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in the USA by Scholastic Inc 2004

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2007

Text copyright © Kathryn Lasky 2004

Illustrations copyright © Richard Cowdrey 2004

The Kathryn Lasky and Richard Cowdrey assert the moral right to be identified as the author

and illustrator of this work

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

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Source ISBN: 9780007215218

Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2016 ISBN: 9780008226831

Version: 2016-12-01

DEDICATION

For Joy Peskin

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One: A friend in Need?

Chapter Two: Spronk No More

Chapter Three: A Grim Tweener

Chapter Four: A Missing Piece

Chapter Five: A fragment from the Sea

Chapter Six: So Close!

Chapter Seven: The Sign of the Centipede

Chapter Eight: Mum Waits for Me

Chapter Nine: The Most Beautiful Mum in the World

Chapter Ten: Eglantine Researches

Chapter Eleven: Primrose’s Last Thought

Chapter Twelve: A Gizzard Begins to Stir

Chapter Thirteen: The Lucky Charm

Chapter Fourteen: As a Gizzard Twitches

Chapter Fifteen: Piece by Piece

Chapter Sixteen: The Sacred Orb

Chapter Seventeen: The Hostage Egg

Chapter Eighteen: “It Cannot fail!”

Chapter Nineteen: The Peg-out

Chapter Twenty: A Crown of fire

Chapter Twenty-One: The Gollymopes

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Living Dead

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Passing of the Claws

About the Author

Other Books By

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

It was the same. That was her first thought.

It looks just like the old fir tree, the one where Soren and I were hatched. And even the shape of the hollow’s opening where Mum and Da made their nest, a lopsided O – wasn’t that the exact shape?

Eglantine knew she was dreaming, but it seemed so real. Like no dream she’d ever had. It was so lovely she didn’t want it to end. She wondered if she flew a little closer and just took a peek, would the hollow look the same inside? Would her mum and da be there? Oh, it had been forever since she’d seen them. Soren said they were dead. He had seen their scrooms, the spirits of dead owls. She hated it when Soren said that. Eglantine squirmed now in her sleep as the words from the awful conversation wove through her dream.

“You saw their scrooms? That means they are dead, doesn’t it, Soren?”

“It does, Eglantine, and there is nothing we can do about that.”

And then Twilight had added his horrible conclusion. “Dead is dead.”

“Dead is dead.” The words swirled around her like black crows getting ready to mob. “Dead IS NOT dead!” She shouted back in her dream. “Dead IS NOT dead.”

CHAPTER ONE

A friend in Need?

“Wake up, Eglantine! Wake up!” Primrose, Eglantine’s hollowmate, was vigorously shaking her. “You’re just having a bad dream.”

“Oh, for Glaux’s sake, let her sleep,” said Ginger, the newest hollowmate. Ginger was a Barn Owl who had actually been part of the attacking forces during the terrible siege of the previous winter. She had been wounded, but during her recovery she had decided that she’d had enough of the Pure Ones and much preferred life in the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. She had not yet, of course, been approved for training as a Guardian. That would require some time. Nonetheless, Eglantine had taken her under her wing, so to speak, and become a kind of big sister to Ginger during her recovery. They had grown quite close in the process. But Primrose was still Eglantine’s best friend in the tree.

“Let her sleep?” Primrose swivelled her head towards the reddish Barn Owl. “Let her continue to have this awful dream?”

Ginger merely sighed and said, “She’s tired. She needs her sleep, bad dream or not.”

Suddenly Eglantine’s eyes flicked open. “Why in the name of Glaux are you shaking me? I was having the loveliest dream.”

“Loveliest dream?” Has she lost her mind? thought Primrose. “You were screaming your head off about being dead or not dead, Eglantine.”

Eglantine blinked. “No I wasn’t,” she replied defiantly. “I was having a wonderful dream about the old hollow in the fir tree back in Tyto where Soren and I lived with our mum and da. And I was just about to go into the hollow. Something wonderful was about to happen, and then you came along and shook me.” She looked accusingly at Primrose. Ginger pretended she wasn’t paying any attention and commenced humming a little owl ditty that Eglantine had taught her.

Now it was Primrose who blinked at Eglantine. Something about her friend seemed different. She’s seemed different for a while, Primrose thought. Is it just my imagination? It must be my imagination. What if she doesn’t want to be my friend any more? Primrose didn’t think she could stand that. She had to stop thinking this way. She and Eglantine were best friends. They had been from the very start, from the day Eglantine had been rescued. Why, she herself had been on the rescue mission that had found Eglantine.

Like most of the young owls in the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, Primrose had also been rescued by the Guardians. She had lost everything in a devastating fire that had swept through the forest of Silverveil. In a matter of minutes her hollow, her homeland, her parents and even the eggs of her future brothers and sisters had been destroyed. But since her rescue, life at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree had been wonderful, and the best part was having a best friend. It didn’t matter that she was a Pygmy Owl, quite small, and that Eglantine, a Barn Owl, was huge by comparison. They had so much in common. They were so much alike. No, she’d never find another friend like Eglantine.

“Look,” she said to Eglantine, “I’m sorry I woke you from your nice dream. It looked like a nightmare to me. I just couldn’t stand hearing you cry like that.”

“It’s all right, Primrose, don’t worry. I know you meant well.” Eglantine said it softly, and then repeated, “Don’t worry. I’m going right back to sleep and finish my nice dream.”

But Primrose was worried.