Shane Hegarty - Hero Rising

First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2017

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins website address is:

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Text copyright © Shane Hegarty 2017

Illustrations copyright © James de la Rue 2017

Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017

Character illustration copyright © James de la Rue 2017

Monster footprint illustration copyright © Peter Crowther 2017

Shane Hegarty and James de la Rue assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work.

A catalogue copy of 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 non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008165673

Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007545667

Version: 2017-04-05

For Aisling & Laoise

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2017 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins website address is: www.harpercollins.co.uk Text copyright © Shane Hegarty 2017 Illustrations copyright © James de la Rue 2017 Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017 Character illustration copyright © James de la Rue 2017 Monster footprint illustration copyright © Peter Crowther 2017 Shane Hegarty and James de la Rue assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work. A catalogue copy of 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 non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008165673 Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007545667 Version: 2017-04-05

Dedication For Aisling & Laoise

Maps Maps

Previously in Darkmouth

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Meanwhile

Chapter 60

Thank Yous

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Books by Shane Hegarty

About the Publisher

They had won the battle but lost Darkmouth.

There had been an invasion, a fight, death, victory … and when it was all over Finn was accused of being a traitor.

When this shocking reversal began to sink in, Finn’s mother, Clara, suggested that the awful situation should force them to do something they’d not done before.

“Let’s go on a holiday,” she said.

Worse than that, she thought she knew exactly where they should go.

“Let’s go to Smoofyland.”

Smoofyland was a theme park based on a popular TV unicorn she kept telling Finn he loved. It was fifty miles up the road from Darkmouth and yet, because Legends kept getting in the way of their plans, they’d never been.

“You would love Smoofyland,” Clara told Finn.

“I would not,” Finn insisted.

“You love Smoofy,” Clara told him.

“I do not,” he said, deeply unamused by the very suggestion.

“Well, you used to,” she said.

“When I was a baby,” he conceded.

“You had a Smoofy cake for your ninth birthday,” Clara reminded him.

“You promised not to mention that again,” said Finn.

“You used to love the Smoofy the Magic Unicorn TV show theme tune,” his mother said, before bursting into song.

“ Who’s the sparkly unicorn with magic in his mane?

“ Smoofy! That’s who .”

“If you sing one more line—” Finn warned.

Clara sang two more lines.

“ Who’s the flying unicorn who’s friends with a rainbow train?

“ Smoofy! That’s who. ”

Finn did not want to hear the Smoofy theme tune. He did not want to go to Smoofyland. He did not want a holiday at all.

He wanted Darkmouth back. For his family. For his dad. For himself.

They had saved the town from an invasion by Fomorians led by the particularly brutish Gantrua, who had brought with him a house-crushing Hydra. They had rescued a group of Half-Hunters, including Emmie’s father Steve, who had been trapped between worlds by the spectral traitor Mr Glad. This had occurred on Finn’s birthday, when he was supposed to be made a proper Legend Hunter. But that did not happen because a man called Lucien had turned up, and stolen Darkmouth from them.

An assistant to the Legend Hunters’ leaders, Lucien had seemingly spent too long in a small office in a narrow corridor in a tall building in Liechtenstein, and wanted some proper action for once. He had struck lucky when all those leaders – the Council of Twelve – were desiccated at the same time.

It cleared the way for him to give orders and take control of the shell-shocked and confused Half-Hunters who had survived the Darkmouth invasion, and who didn’t know who to believe. Lucien pointed out that a boy who had spent time palling around with Legends should be the last one to trust.

Estravon Oakbound, the rule-obsessed assistant who had once journeyed with them to the Infested Side, agreed.

That sealed Finn’s fate.

Lucien captured Broonie the Hogboon and took him away for Desiccation. He stripped Finn and his father Hugo of their right to defend Darkmouth and forced them to move into a small house with Emmie and Steve.