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158 pages

English

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Beyond the Door, the first in the Time Out of Time duet from Maureen Doyle McQuerry, weaves a compelling coming-of-age story with fantasy and mythology. With his love of learning and the game of Scrabble, Timothy James feels like the only person who understands him is his older sister, Sarah, and he's fairly certain nothing interesting will ever happen to him. But one night, while his parents and sister are away, the door opens, and mythical creatures appear in his own living room! Soon, a mystery of unparalleled proportions begins to unfold, revealing an age-old battle of Light against Dark, and Timothy must embark on a quest to prevent the Dark from controlling the future and changing the past. But he can't complete the quest alone. Timothy has to team up with his sister and the school bully, Jessica, to face an ancient evil, and in the process, this unlikely trio discover they are each more than meets the eye.Praise for Time Out of TimeSTARRED REVIEW McQuerry's compelling narrative races forward, immersing the reader in its lyrical mysteries. --Booklist, starred review McQuerry smoothly blends adventure, coming-of-age, and mystery with a mythological world where special academic and problem-solving talents are required assets rather than nerd-bait for bullies. The characters are charming, and the quirky, supernatural good guys are compassionate and forgiving. --VOYA A promising start to a fantasy series mines the rich ore of Celtic mythology and propels a young boy into cosmic battle. --Kirkus Reviews A sense of wonder and worry permeates the narrative, evocative of The Dark Is Rising or the work of Neil Gaiman, and the cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for more. --Publishers Weekly Fantasy addicts will find plenty to like in Beyond the Door, and it is beautifully designed with Ogham code (early Irish alphabet) at the bottom of the pages for kids to decipher while they are waiting for the next instalment. --School Library Journal

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	25 mars 2014
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781613126271
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McQuerry, Maureen, 1955-Beyond the door / Maureen Doyle McQuerry.pages cm. - (Time out of time; book 1) Summary: When mythical creatures appear, a mystery of unparalleled proportions begins to unfold for Timothy, his sister Sarah, and school bully Jessica, who must defeat the powers of the Darkness. ISBN 978-1-4197-1016-2 [1. Adventure and adventurers-Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters-Fiction. 3. Mythology, Celtic-Fiction. 4. Space and time-Fiction. 5. Magic-Fiction. 6. Animals, Mythical-Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.M24715Be 2014 [Fic]-dc23 2013025513
Text copyright 2014 Maureen Doyle McQuerry Book design by Sara Corbett and Kate Fitch
Published in 2014 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com
FOR BRENNAN AND CLAIRE, WHO LOVE STORIES
SEE THIS PAGE TO LEARN ABOUT THE SECRET CODE IN THIS BOOK.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
PART 1 STRANGE VISITORS
1 AT THE DOOR AND INTO THE HOUSE
2 EVIDENCE
3 SECRETS
4 UNDESIRABLES
5 WISHES
6 THE MAN IN THE LIBRARY
7 THE GIRL ON THE LAWN
8 DO YOU BELIEVE IN EVIL?
9 MYSTERIOUS LETTER
10 THE HORNBEAM
11 THE HORNED MAN
12 ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE
13 THE STAKEOUT
14 A STORM BUILDS
15 IN THE DARK
16 COME INTO THE STORM
17 GREENMAN
18 IN THE SHADOWS
19 SWORDPOINT
20 THE HUNT RIDES
21 REGRETS
22 SUMMONING THE WOLVES
23 TRAPS AND SNARES
24 TIMOTHY S PLAN
25 A WILD SHOT
26 ALONE
27 GIFTS
28 WOLFPROOF
PART 2 THE FILIDH
29 WATCHMEN
30 NO ORDINARY RAT
31 THE RATCATCHER
32 RAT-BITE FEVER
33 NOM
34 HUNTERS GATE
35 THE MARKET
36 JULIAN
37 FERRET LEGGING AND A FRIEND
38 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES
39 FIONA S DRA OCHT
40 THE ANIMAL TAMER
41 THE COMING OF THE CROWS
42 A TRADE
43 CHOICES
44 KEEPERS OF THE WORD
45 THE OLD WAYS
46 HOME AGAIN
47 THE MAN IN THE WOODS
48 PETER S PLAN
49 BLUEBLACK S
50 CAUGHT
51 THE PIPES
52 THE CROWN
A NOTE TO THE READER
THE CODE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE
TOOPED AND SHUFFLING , the man slipped soundlessly through the shadows of night. His hair was long and shaggy, his clothes ill-fitting and unremarkable except for the many pockets of various sizes that covered his jacket and trousers. Wherever he walked, the streetlights dimmed. It seemed to make the man stand a little taller and his stride lengthen. He gazed hungrily into well-lit windows of houses, and his pale skin began to itch. It was only mid-March, but spring was coming. The daylight lasted longer; the air carried the first faint scents of new life. Soon, very soon, the change would come.
He stood hidden in shadow outside the windows of a small house on Willow Street. Silhouettes moved back and forth behind the curtains. The windows blazed, but this was not the house he was looking for. When his scalp began to tingle, he raked his fingers through his hair. A single leaf had sprouted from the back of his head. The change was beginning. A tabby cat rustled through the laurel bushes. Pausing to stare warily, it inched closer to the man, then rubbed against his ankles. As he bent to scratch its ears, he thought of the lengthening days ahead. Every year he waited for the days to grow longer, for the short days of winter to change to summer. This spring would be different. He could feel it. He could even hear it in the voices of the trees.
He hurried toward the outskirts of town, past the road to the forest s edge, where the houses became more scattered, hidden behind hedges and large trees. He was in search of a particular house where two particular children lived. He had been waiting for this spring for many years. The boy should be almost twelve; his sister, two years older. Their house was half-hidden by a large clump of birch trees, white and shining in the moonlight. A wide porch wrapped around two sides. The green front door had been left ajar.
It was time to begin.

The rough bark of the sycamore dug into the girl s back. She was not used to sitting in trees, and she had been in this tree for what most people would consider a very long time. Above her, the stars burned in the night sky and the distant moon looked as if it were tangled in the uppermost branches of the tree. Occasionally, she swung her legs or ran a comb through her long pale hair. Her job was to wait and watch, and as she waited, she sang. The song had no melody, but it spun out into the night like a silvery ribbon. As she watched, the front door opened tentatively: a slender slice of light, and a boy s face appeared, and then disappeared. Surprisingly, the door stayed open. She continued to sing as minutes passed. Finally, there was movement in the darkness and her back relaxed against the tree. A man came shambling across the wide lawn, moving purposefully toward the open door.

The girl s song carried itself on the wind through the night and spread out in the four directions of the compass. In the north, it disturbed the sleep of a pack of white hounds; they stirred restlessly, whimpered, and barked. Their master looked at the sky and wondered why they should travel so soon. Nevertheless, the hunt would ride when and where it was summoned. He saddled his well-muscled horse, black as the night sky. Then he hooked a polished hunting horn to his belt. The hounds would be glad of some exercise, and he wouldn t mind some himself.
In the east, the song reached into the sleep of the one-eyed man and gave him horrible dreams. A striped orange cat, held in a small trap by his bedside, hissed, longing for freedom. Only hours before, it had been hunting for a morsel of food or water. In a cage next to the cat, a gray rat hunched miserably, rubbing its paws over its pointed face. The man snorted loudly and called out in his sleep, but because he lived alone, nobody came. In the next room, other animals growled or mewled piteously. Those without voices merely shifted, seeking comfort in cages that gleamed like jewels.

AT THE DOOR AND INTO THE HOUSE
STRAY GUST OF wind howled down the chimney, sending a spray of last fall s leaves out of the hearth and scuttling across the living room floor. Timothy James Maxwell jumped up with a start from the book he had been trying to read. It wasn t a windy night. Leaves had never blown down the chimney before. He went to the fireplace and peered cautiously up the chimney, but all he could see was the blackness of the flue. A puff of air blew directly in his face, and he pulled out his head, smacking the back of it on the bricks. Ouch!
Fortunately, neither the leaves nor his cry awakened Mrs. Clapper, who had fallen asleep in the recliner at least half an hour ago. She slept soundly, with her legs, thick as tree trunks, sprawled in front of her, head thrown back, mouth gaping like a trap. Her nose whistled with each deep breath, and her full lower lip quivered. She wasn t really too bad, as babysitters went, Timothy thought, but the fact that she was a babysitter was a problem. At eleven and three-quarters, he was quite sure he no longer needed a babysitter. Unfortunately, his parents didn t agree. And even though they tried to pass her off as a companion, he wasn t fooled. So when they had taken his older sister, Sarah, to a ballet audition in the city, Timothy was left, alone, with the Clapper.
We ll be home Sunday night as soon as we can-promise, his mother had explained. Timothy looked down at the carpet and drew his eyebrows together.
Buck up, son. Clapper s a good sort, and she ll probably play Scrabble with you to your heart s content. Timothy considered this to be nothing more than bribery because his father knew how much he loved Scrabble: the smooth wooden tiles, the random surprise of letters, and, of course, the fact that he usually won.
I don t think I need a babysitter anymore, now that I m almost twelve, Timothy replied with dignity. I can take care of myself just fine. What could happen? Nothing ever happens here. If you really don t want me left alone, then one of you should stay. It doesn t take two people to see an audition. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he couldn t stop the words.
We know that you re very capable, his mother had replied, bending close so that he caught the minty fragrance of her soft brown hair and a faint whiff of turpentine. We just want you to have some company, and Mrs. Clapper has already agreed. Do be kind to her, Timothy.
At that point, Timothy had known the battle was lost. He thought of the word conquer . A handy word to use in Scrabble, but a miserable word when it was directed at him.
Over the years, Mrs. Clapper had stayed a number of times, but always when he and Sarah were home together. He didn t like the idea of having Mrs. Clapper to himself. He d always counted on Sarah to divert most of the babysitter s attention. And he was still haunted by some of the strange stories she had told them, stories about people who shape-shifted into animals, about changeling children or creatures that came in from the dark if you left a door or window open.
The evenin