Informationen zum Autor Kevin Sands Klappentext In this conclusion to the thrilling Thieves of Shadow series, bestselling author Kevin Sands delivers a jaw-dropping heist that sees five young thieves masterminding a prison break from the empire's most impenetrable island fortress. Fans of The False Prince and Ocean's Eleven will be mesmerized by this page-turning series filled with twists and turns. Follow my instructions, and when our task is done, I will release you. Commanded by the magical artifact known as the Dragon's Eye, junior con artist Callan and his friends are eagerly reaching the end of the epic quest that will finally free him from the Eye's sinister hold. But their final task is their most ambitious: sneaking into the emperor's private island prison and rescuing a man from a jail cell that has been locked tight for a hundred years. This impossible heist will strain the gang's unique abilities to thieve and deceive everyone from the guards, the city elite, the warden, and even the nefarious local crime boss who warns them to stay away. As the friends plan out their last and most difficult con job, Callan begins to question what they're helping the Eye to achieve. Aided by magical hints and fitful dreams, Callan slowly uncovers the Eye's true desires. To his horror, he realizes that he may be the one being conned all this time . . . and his mistake could cost the world's entire existence. Leseprobe Chapter 1 Was I dreaming? I was standing alone in the woods. Trees stretched high above me, their trunks overgrown with moss. The light was dim, the only illumination coming from our twin moons shining through the leaves. A forest, much like any other. Except I couldn't remember how I'd gotten here. The last thing I recalled was Gareth. It was bedtime, and with little space at the inn, he, Lachlan, and I had piled into one room while Meriel and Foxtail took the other. As usual, Lachlan had asked Gareth to read him a story from the Fox and Bear book I'd given him. Gareth had obliged, telling the tale of the Fox, the Bear, and the Whistling Wind from his blanket cocoon on the floor as Lachlan nestled into his pillow. I hadn't really been listening. I'd heard the story a hundred times before, told to me by the Old Man­the gaffer who'd raised me, taught me how to cheat people, then abandoned me after we'd had one too many fights. So as Gareth read, I just closed my eyes, letting his soft, low voice drift me to sleep. Then my mind filled with strange images. First I stood between giant creatures, reptilian things, lumbering beneath an orange sky streaked with clouds tinted green. As the beasts walked, they stretched impossibly long necks up to strip the bark from spiny trees, lowing with contentment as they chewed. Then I was in a cellar, the creaking shelves around me smelling of mildew. Then I was on a boat, and my hand was on fire. Then I was . . . I don't know where I was. In pitch black. Someone was laughing in the darkness. Dreams, surely dreams. Bizarre, half-­remembered things, already fading from memory. But now I was here, among these trees. And this didn't feel like a dream. It was too real, too alive. The rustling of the leaves as the wind blew. The peaty scent of moss. The stink of wet, rotting log. And something else. Something below that, hot and coppery. Blood. I could smell it. It was coming from the other side of a crooked old oak. Where the ground was dug up, the earth strewn about. Cautious­and still confused­I approached the hole. There were tracks pressed into the dirt, three-­toed, with claws. Each print was twice the span of my hand. What kind of creature could make these? The smell got stronger the closer I got. Not just blood anymore, but the reek of decay. Inside the scar in the ground were the ravaged bodies of the animals that had live...

Autorentext

Kevin Sands

Klappentext

In this conclusion to the thrilling Thieves of Shadow series, bestselling author Kevin Sands delivers a jaw-dropping heist that sees five young thieves masterminding a prison break from the empire’s most impenetrable island fortress. Fans of The False Prince and Ocean’s Eleven will be mesmerized by this page-turning series filled with twists and turns.

“Follow my instructions, and when our task is done, I will release you.”

Commanded by the magical artifact known as the Dragon’s Eye, junior con artist Callan and his friends are eagerly reaching the end of the epic quest that will finally free him from the Eye’s sinister hold. But their final task is their most ambitious: sneaking into the emperor’s private island prison and rescuing a man from a jail cell that has been locked tight for a hundred years. This impossible heist will strain the gang’s unique abilities to thieve and deceive everyone from the guards, the city elite, the warden, and even the nefarious local crime boss who warns them to stay away.

As the friends plan out their last and most difficult con job, Callan begins to question what they’re helping the Eye to achieve. Aided by magical hints and fitful dreams, Callan slowly uncovers the Eye’s true desires. To his horror, he realizes that he may be the one being conned all this time . . . and his mistake could cost the world’s entire existence.