The Darkening King

The Darkening King
Justin Fisher

Ned and the magical Circus of Marvels are back in a third rip-roaring, page-turning adventure!The Armstrongs are both predator and prey, hunting for clues to help them fight the Darkening-King, while constantly watching their backs. This time it’s not just the world of the Hidden searching for them: the Josser world is intent on capturing the family too. Leading the search is the curious Mr Fox and his agents in grey, and they’ve found an ally who knows Ned’s every move.As the world of the Hidden begins to fall apart, its horde of Demons and Darklings threatens to spill out of the shadows at any moment. With his trusty mouse and Familiar, Lucy and George, Ned must travel from the snow-swept forests of Siberia to the cliffs of Dover in a desperate attempt to rally allies for a final stand. Fearsome enemies will become allies and old allies enemies, as Ned prepares himself for the final battle.

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2018

Published in this ebook edition in 2018

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

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Text copyright © Justin Fisher 2018

Cover illustrations copyright © Marcus Šumberac 2018

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Justin Fisher asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008124588

Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008124595

Version: 2018-06-29

For C Thank you again, and again and again. For always and for everything X

Contents

Cover (#u4d282ec8-ae8d-5cb6-8218-bee8fa951d11)

Title Page (#u1ead1db3-cbee-5de1-9d5a-7b4b027e2738)

Copyright (#u8ebfffa0-bae8-5313-8e70-6ff3f1af0717)

Dedication (#u4327e67b-0787-5697-a4bd-ae4523d8df43)

Prologue

1. Godshill

2. Afternoon Tea

3. The Door

4. Boiling

5. The Demon in the Tea Room

6. Grey-suits

7. Old Faces

8. The Butcher and the Hammer

9. The Nest

10. Tinks

11. Who? What? Why?

12. Little to Do about Nothing

13. Not Entirely Ideal

14. Not Entirely Alone

15. The Forest

16. We Have Company

17. Brother

18. The King in the Cave

19. Older than Old

20. The Stone Dragon

21. Trapped

22. Alliance

23. Brothers-in-arms

24. Headquarters