Barrowman John - Bone Quill

Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, nursed a hard grievance.

Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Buster Books,
an imprint of Michael OMara Books Limited,
9 Lion Yard, Tremadoc Road, London SW4 7NQ

www.busterbooks.co.uk
www.hollow-earth.co.uk

Text copyright John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Illustration copyright Buster Books 2013
Illustrations by Andrew Pinder
Cover design by Nicola Theobald

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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

ISBN: 978-1-78055-031-2 in paperback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78055-182-1 in Epub format
ISBN: 978-1-78055-183-8 in Mobipocket format

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Designed and typeset by www.glensaville.com

With love
to
Bud and Lois
and
Gavin

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

John Barrowman is a presenter, a singer, a dancer and an actor, best known for playing Captain Jack in the television series Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Carole E. Barrowman teaches English and creative writing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She also writes for newspapers and regularly appears on television to talk about books. Carole and her brother have already written several books together. Bone Quill is the sequel to Hollow Earth, their first novel for children.

Present Day

T he events of the last couple of months for twins Matt and Emily Calder have been life-changing. Fleeing London with their mother for their grandfather Renards protection on the Scottish isle of Auchinmurn, they learn that their mother Sandie is an Animare and their father Malcolm a Guardian, giving the twins an explosive combination of talents. Malcolm, increasingly obsessed by his ambition to free the beasts of Hollow Earth, was bound into a painting when the twins were young, but villains have already tried to use the twins powers to free him. Thanks to the intervention of the white peryton a magical creature tied to the history of Auchinmurn the plot failed. But now the twins mother has disappeared ...

The Middle Ages

F ifteen-year-old novice monk Solon has helped the old Animare Brother Renard to free the magical white peryton from the sacred cave paintings on the small island of Era Mina. They strive to protect the monastery on Auchinmurn Isle and defeat Rurik the Red a Viking leader in pursuit of a sacred relic he claims was stolen from his people. But the animation of the peryton has come at a cost, and Brother Renards imagination is fractured. And now, as the stonemasons are building a tower to keep Brother Renard safe, there are mutterings of rebellion among the other monks ...

Turn to the Glossary for further information.

The Abbey

Auchinmurn Isle

West Coast of Scotland

Ten Years Ago

T he battle for control of the Calder twins imaginations began on the afternoon of their third birthday. Sandie was enjoying the last slice of Jeannies double-decker chocolate cake when Malcolm raced into the kitchen.

Ive found it! he said, waving a red leather journal in front of Sandie in feverish excitement. Proof that Hollow Earth is real!

Sandies fork clattered to her plate. What?

Its all in this diary! The key must not be found but this is the exciting part. Listen to this. Malcolm flipped to another page. After all that I have witnessed, after the horrors that have been revealed to me in Hollow Earth, I know this. The powers within are too terrible for man to control.

All these months of searching, and finally this! He began to pace in front of the French doors. With Matt and Ems help, I He stopped, then turned and smiled at Sandie, We will control Hollow Earth and then everything will be ours.

Youre mad, Malcolm, sputtered Sandie, dread creeping up her spine. I dont want everything.

A part of Malcolm had always been wild so focused on his own obsessions that he ignored the feelings and opinions of others. Sandie had hoped marriage would calm him, but since the birth of the twins, this obsession with Hollow Earth had been eating away the Malcolm shed fallen in love with.

I dont care how you squander your powers or your life, but you cant use the twins to further this madness! she went on, her pulse quickening. Theyre too young, practically babies. Their powers are not yours to control.

Malcolm gripped Sandies shoulders. She flinched. I wont be stopped by you or anyone else, he said coldly. To master Hollow Earth is my destiny.

The next morning, Sandie was glad of the chance to breakfast quietly with Renard, while Malcolm played with the twins outside. But as she gazed out of the window at the great glass sculpture in the Abbey grounds, she noticed something strange.

The sculpture was a massive mobile of mirrors suspended from the trees at the western point of the grounds, shimmering and spinning in the changeable winds that ran along the islands coastline. Matt and Em were sprawled under the installation on a blanket with their dad, painting. But what was reflected in the mirrors was not the cosy scene that it should have been. Instead, each shard was reflecting the swirling greens, browns and yellows of a mysterious cave mouth.

When the wind caught the mobile, the mirrored glass spun, and Sandie saw the tell-tale glow of an animation. A stabbing awareness pierced her mind.

She recognized the image.

Lasers of light suddenly shot from the cave mouth, every fragment of mirror multiplying the effects, creating a criss-crossing grid of light encasing the trees, trapping Malcolm and the twins inside.

Renard! Sandie screamed. Stop him!

Renard Calder appeared at his daughter-in-laws side. He stared in shock at the scene unfolding on the lawn.

My God, whats he doing?

I think hes using the mirrors to increase the twins powers, replied Sandie, her voice seared with panic. Malcolm has Duncan Foxs painting of the entrance to Hollow Earth, and the twins are animating it!

Impossible! gasped Renard. That painting is locked in the vault.

When have locks or even you managed to stop your son?

She raced through the French doors and across the wide lawn towards the trees that had lit up as if candles burned from their branches, with Renard close behind her.