Bond - Strange Alchemy

With whip-smart, instantly likable characters and a gothic small-town setting, Bond weaves a dark and gorgeous tapestry from Americas oldest mystery.
Scott Westerfeld, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Uglies series

Bond takes some reliably great elements a family curse, the mark of Cain, the old and endlessly fascinating mystery of the Roanoke Colony and makes them into something delightfully, surprisingly new. How does she do that? I suspect witchcraft.
Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club

This haunting, romantic mystery intrigues, chills, and captivates.
Cynthia Leitich Smith, New York Times bestselling author of the Tantalize series

For my parents (principals but never fascists) and for Christopher (my partner-in-crime)

For what we sometimes were, we are no more; Fortune hath changed our shape, and destiny Defaced the very form we had before.

Sir Walter Raleigh, Petition to the Queen

I am a Blackwood, and in this town, on this tiny island, that means taking whatever escapes are offered. I cock my head back and pretend to be in two places at once. Here, in the wings of this outdoor theater, half-listening for my favorite part of The Lost Colony, and there, as far away as the stars, light-years above it all. The night sky is as familiar as the constellation of calluses that dot my palms. As familiar and set as everything in my life.

I used to think I could get away for real. I was younger then stupider or more innocent, depending on your point of view. The first time I checked the back of my closet for a portal to another world I was eleven. The year Mom died. After the closet, I tried other places. I wandered small patches of woods, seeking doors hidden in the twisted trees, and peered into mirrors searching for reflections that werent mine. No wonder the kids at school decided I was a freak. No, thats not fair. They wouldve decided that anyway. The Blackwoods are cursed, after all the unluckiest family on the island.

Escape is a romantic notion. Im too practical to believe in it now. I no longer hope to step over a secret threshold and leave Roanoke Island behind forever.

And yet here I am, staring at the stars.

Its almost funny that Im unable to escape a place thats famous for people vanishing. Roanoke Island, the site of the first English colony in the Americas, where 114 men, women, and children went missing without any explanation, save for a single cryptic carving left behind on a tree. Disappearing completely is some trick to pull off, even hundreds of years ago when the country was still almost entirely wild places.

Theyve survived!

The bullish voice of the actor who plays Governor John White snaps my attention back to the stage. The line signals his return to the colony after his trip to England. The sets faux oak tree, hollow boulders, and packed dirt floor pass for an abandoned settlement, except for the shining spotlights.

Surrounded by sailors, White gasps hamming it up as he points to the oak on the far side of the stage. The simple cloak around his shoulders flies out with the gesture. I cant see the word from here, but of course its the famous CROATOAN carved into the bark in desperate, crooked letters.

White, overacting like crazy, shouts: My granddaughter, I will see her beautiful face!

I exchange a look with Polly, my boss and the stage manager, the one who lets me stand here in exchange for my intern scut work. Shes the closest thing I have to a friend well, besides my dog, Sidekick.

Polly shakes her head, her prematurely gray ponytail swishing. We both know Director Jack, aka His Royal Majesty, will give John White a scathing note on his over-the-top performance later.

For now, the governor, along with the sailors in the background, freezes. The lights dim. The final reveal is cued up.

Its sticky humid out here, but a small shiver runs through me. The same one I always feel when I think about the colonists. Every time I watch the show, I wonder how or where they ended up. The standard theories involve bad endings and tragedy. But the reality is, the truth died when they did. Well never ever know what happened to them.

A single low spotlight draws my attention back to the stage. The beam fixes on a solemn young blond girl as she wanders, ghost-slow, through the frozen men. Her face is chalk pale.

His Royal Majestys biggest change to this years show was making Virginia Dare the first English child born in America the shows deadpan narrator. The actress, Caroline, is a local kid, seven, and a holy terror mean-girl-in-training. But the casting works.

I lean forward to see how the scenes going over for the crowd. We arent sold out tonight, but the curving rows of the amphitheater are still nearly full. Twelve hundred people sit, riveted and silent, as Caroline haunts the stage.

And then I spot something off a shadow at the back of the audience. One moment everythings normal, the next this giant shadow is there, hovering in the air.

Its definitely not part of the show.

The floating darkness grows and grows and then resolves into a recognizable shape an immense, old-fashioned black ship. The kind of ship that was used by colonists or pirates. Odd gray symbols bloom on each of three billowing black sails, the shapes a mix of straight lines and arcs, a half-moon curving above a circle at the top. The sailcloth ripples in a wind I dont feel on my skin.

I blink. And again.

The ship is still there.

I raise my hand, and my hand is in front of an immense black ship with tall black sails. The ship glides forward, swallowing the audience row after curving row.

In a few seconds, half the audience has disappeared beneath it. No one reacts.

My breath catches in my throat as the ship moves steadily closer.

I turn to Polly, and she smiles with the normal relief of reaching the end of the night. A smile with no hint of concern.

The ship is heading straight for the stage now. Those odd symbols shift on the sails in curving and slashing lines. The black monster gathers speed, faster and faster.

When little Caroline hits her mark at center stage, there are only a dozen feet separating her from the ship. She gives no sign of seeing it either. She might be a brat, but shes also only seven years old.

Look out! I finally point and stagger forward onto the stage. Caroline opens her mouth to speak, and I throw myself at her, shielding her small body with my arms.

There are a few shocked cries. I close my eyes and wait for the impact.

It never comes.

Murmurs and questions from the crowd reach my ears, but nothing else.

Caroline squirms in my arms. I open my eyes, and the massive curving prow looms above us, unmoving, throwing a heavy shadow over Caroline and me. Then between one blink and the next it vanishes.

The spotlight is suddenly blinding in my face, and I squint, not used to the bright heat. I glance over my shoulder as I hold wriggling Caroline tight.

Governor White glares murder at me, but none of the men break character. Theyre supposed to remain frozen until the lights go down, and they are.

Caroline says, Let me go, Blackwood.

I dont understand her meaning right away, dont understand whats happening. Until Caroline grabs a handful of my hair and yanks hard.