Tom Finder (19 page)
A group of onlookers gathered behind him. One of them said, “They start fires in a building that's boarded up and says N
O
E
NTRY
all over it, and then it burns down. Surprise, surprise.”
The beautiful office workers, their arms hung heavy with all the good business of the world.
“Danger to the whole community . . .”
“Heard of a guy made three hundred dollars a day begging. They probably all got bank accounts.”
Account. AâCâCâOâUâNâT.
“No, they blow it all on drugs.”
“There you go. A few less druggies to worry about now.”
Tom wasn't afraid of voices anymore. The old voices had been like a skin on him, becoming part of himself, turning him into nobody. Layers of scar skin, scar tissue, until he could hardly find himself under all of it.
But he knew something now. If you wanted to know what was true, you had to start with the things you knew for sure, and he knew for sure he could swim and spell and find things. Find anythingâlike maybe a new life, a new home. The words of his notebook were true. He'd found his own voice under all those layers. Even if he didn't find anything else, he'd found the most important thing: Tom.
“Excuse me, sir,” Tom said, turning to the men speaking behind him. Their faces became embarrassed and defiant as they guessed by Tom's smoke-smeared face that he'd been one of the kids in the building.
One of them hitched his briefcase and quickly walked away. Another ignored him.
“Could I borrow a pen, please?” Tom asked.
Two of the men looked at each other, and one reached into his jacket pocket. Wordlessly, he handed a pen to Tom.
Tom smiled at the man and looked the pen over. It was a good one, perfectly weighted in the hand, big enough for a man's hand. “This is going to be good,” Tom said to the man, smiling.
He took his notebook out of his backpack. The pages were still damp, but that just made the ink line thicker and bolder. He began writing.
He would write their stories. Everyone of them had a story. The newspaper man would buy it, Tom was sure. And maybe take him home to meet his wife. He wrote their names. Not their real names, but their street names, the ones they had died in: Rain, Morocco, Baby, Jeffrey-Jones, Janice. Tom wrote their stories, there on the curb with his feet on the pavement and his head in gravity.
He had no trouble finding the words.
Other books by Martine Leavitt
The Dollmage
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults Nomination
In this intricately woven tale of the frightful effects of love, pride and power, the Dollmage is the wise woman of Seekvalley. As her powers weaken and age comes upon her, she knows she must choose a successor. On the day she predicts to be the birthday of her chosen one, two girls are born: Annakey and Renoa. One must learn the Dollmage's magic, but which one? She chooses Renoa, but as Annakey grows, she discovers that she, too, has magic.
ISBN 0-88995-233-7
CAN 9.95 / USA 8.95
The Dragon's Tapestry
B
OOK I OF THE
M
ARMAWELL
T
RILOGY
American Association of Mormon Letters Award
Canadian Library Association Notable Book
When news of dragon trouble comes from the north, villagers in Marmawell scoff. Dragons haven't flown in the land of Ve for many generations. But Marwen, the Oldwife's apprentice, doesn't scoff. She knows the reports are true; she senses the dragon's magic. But who in Marmawell will listen to her? She has no parents, and she knows too much of the old magic. But worse by far, she has no tapestry, no cloth woven by the Oldwife at her birth and inlaid with symbols of her destiny. To the villagers, she is the “soulless one.”
Her destiny will lead her to lost lands, to a powerful magic she can scarcely control, to a mystery no one should have to face alone.
                            ISBN 0-88995-080-6
                            CAN 9.95 / USA 8.95
The Prism Moon
B
OOK II IN THE
M
ARMAWELL
T
RILOGY
American Association of Mormon Letters Award
The word is out upon the land: Young Marwen has vanquished the dragon Perdoneg. Minstrels carry her name to the farthest corners of Ve, transforming her lyrically into the heir to the wizard's staff. But her transformation is not yet complete; the staff is not yet in hand. And danger lurks more closely than she dares believe. The wizard's staff is sought by another whose past is intertwined with Marwen's. And what's more, he holds the dreadful power of the Prism Moon to which Marwen finds herself inexorably drawn.
ISBN 0-88995-095-4
                            CAN 9.95 / USA 8.95
The Taker's Key
B
OOK III IN THE
M
ARMAWELL
T
RILOGY
Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Award, Starred Selection
In
The Dragon's Tapestry
and
The Prism Moon,
Marwen recovered her tapestry, the cloth woven by an Oldwife at her birth and inlaid with symbols of her magical destiny. She vanquished the dragon, Perdoneg, and returned with Prince Camlach.
But an evil sorcery now prowls the land. The Oldwives are losing their magic, drought withers the fields and an ill wind weakens the hiding spell that protects Ve. Worse still, Marwen is powerless to stop any of it. Her wizard's magic drains away, and she has difficulty casting even a simple spell to heal a garden. She must find the key, the powerful talisman whose magic has become her only hope and whose symbol is woven into her tapestry. As evil rumbles like thunder around them, Marwen and the Oldwives must confront the elusive truth of the Taker's Key or never escape the deathlands.
                            ISBN 0-88995-184-5
                            CAN 9.95 / USA 8.95
M
ARTINE
L
EAVITT
is the award-winning author of
The Dragon's Tapestry, The Prism Moon,
and
The Taker's Key,
which make up the Marmawell Trilogy. Her most recent novel for teens,
The Dollmage,
was chosen as a BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults) title by the American Library Association.