Informationen zum Autor Since escaping from university with a pair of degrees in theoretical physics, Kevin Sands has worked as a researcher, a business consultant, a teacher, and a professional poker player. He is the author of Children of the Fox and the bestselling Blackthorn Key series. He lives in Ontario, Canada. Klappentext A dying friend, a terrible bargain, an underwater quest, and dangerous magic . . . the adventure continues in this sequel to CHILDREN OF THE FOX. Fans of twisty, clever stories like The False Prince and Ocean's Eleven will love this newest series from Kevin Sands, author of the bestselling Blackthorn Key. Rule number one: Never mess with magic. Even so, a life-or-death situation calls for Callan and his criminal friends to make a deal with the Eyethe sinister, sentient artifact they stole from a sorcerer. It's Lachlan's life in exchange for a future task, and the gang has no choice but to agree. But even as Lachlan is resurrected, it's not without cost. Through the Eye, Callan can see a tiny purple stain inside Lachlan's soul, which will eventually consume him. The cureand their part of the deallies with the Dragon's Teeth, a pair of swords with extraordinary powers, and the search for them leads the thieves on a quest that will unravel the mystery of the Eye. Old friends, new betrayals, and an even more daring break-in than the last culminate in a confrontation that will take all the gang's skill and power to resistor they'll die trying. Leseprobe Chapter 1 Lachlan was dying. We could hear it in the way he was breathing. Each gasp, ragged and agonizing, broke at the end, a slow hhhhhh-uh. We might have explained it away as pain. Except now, as we carried him through the brush, Lachlan paused between each breath, taking in no air at all. Every one of us knew what that meant. I suppose it shouldn't have come as a surprise. We'd watched our friend get run through the gut by a burning sword. The blade had been wielded by the Lady in Red, a fire elementala construct made of living flame, bound through magic in the shape of a woman. Lachlan had been burned all over his back, too. When we'd killed the enchanted elemental, it had exploded in a blazing burst. It was a miracle Lachlan was still alive at all. But now he was fading, and fast. What we needed, then, was a new miracle. We needed to find something to save him. The Old Man watched from inside my head. I could almost see him, lounging with his back to one of the trees, filling his pipe as I trudged past. What are the odds of that? he said. Not good. You think I'm a fool, don't you? I said silently. The Old Man sounded amused. If you have to ask that question, then you already know the answer. I sighed. Because he wasn't wrong. He rarely was. It was one of the things I'd always found so infuriating. The Old Manhe'd never told me his real name; I'd just called him Old Man from the start, and he'd seemed to like thathad raised me. He'd rescued me from the streets when I was six years old and taught me his trade: how to manipulate people. I'd learned to read their thoughts, their feelings, their hidden intentions, from the way they moved, from the words they saidor the words they didn't. The Old Man had turned me into a younger version of him: a gaffer, a charmer, a silvertongueor a con man, a swindler, and a dirty rotten cheat, depending on whom you asked. The Old Man was gone now. He'd abandoned me half a year ago, after one too many fights between us, when I finally told him I wouldn't run any more gaffs that might snaffle decent people. But he wouldn't leave my head. Good thing, too, boy, he said, puffing on his pipe. You should have at least one person in this skull of yours talking sense. I don't need you to remind me, I grumbled. Trying to save Lachlan, with his injur...

Klappentext

A dying friend, a terrible bargain, an underwater quest, and dangerous magic . . . the adventure continues in this sequel to CHILDREN OF THE FOX. Fans of twisty, clever stories like The False Prince and Ocean's Eleven will love this newest series from Kevin Sands, author of the bestselling Blackthorn Key.

Rule number one: Never mess with magic. Even so, a life-or-death situation calls for Callan and his criminal friends to make a deal with the Eye—the sinister, sentient artifact they stole from a sorcerer. It's Lachlan's life in exchange for a future task, and the gang has no choice but to agree.

But even as Lachlan is resurrected, it's not without cost. Through the Eye, Callan can see a tiny purple stain inside Lachlan's soul, which will eventually consume him. The cure—and their part of the deal—lies with the Dragon's Teeth, a pair of swords with extraordinary powers, and the search for them leads the thieves on a quest that will unravel the mystery of the Eye. Old friends, new betrayals, and an even more daring break-in than the last culminate in a confrontation that will take all the gang's skill and power to resist—or they'll die trying.