The battle against goblinkind continues . . . but which side will Teagan be on?
Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man’s forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea’s goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea’s family and friends. Tea knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich. And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.
In the Forests of the Night: The Goblin Wars, Book Two
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About the Author
Kersten Hamilton is the author of several picture books and many middle grade novels. She has worked as a ranch hand, a woodcutter, a lumberjack, a census taker, a wrangler for wilderness guides, and an archeological surveyor. Now, when she's not writing, she hunts dinosaurs in the deserts and badlands of New Mexico. The Goblin Wars books are her first novels for young adults. For more about Kersten, please visit www.kerstenhamilton.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Prologue
Tears were spilling down Teagan’s cheeks as she went up the stairs. She locked her bedroom door so no one could follow her in. If Aiden needed her, he could just bang on it and wake Abby, who was curled up on the bed, frowning in her sleep. Teagan tiptoed past her, careful not to let even one sniffle escape, climbed out the window, and slid it shut behind her.
She made it to the middle of the roof before she collapsed, hugging the roll of duct tape. It seemed like a million years since the day Finn had told Aiden that duct tape could fix anything. Well, it couldn’t fix this.
Teagan pulled her knees up, put her head down on them, and let the sobs come. They’d turned to hiccups when something touched her shoulder.
“Tea? Are you all right?”
“Finn!” She whirled to look at the window. It was still closed. “Where did you come from?”
“Came up the drainpipe,” he said. “I heard someone crying up here and wondered who it was.”
“You climbed up the drainpipe with your hand like that?” It was still wrapped in gauze and tape to help his palm heal.
“I can use two fingers.” He wiggled them at her to prove it.
“Here.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve, hiccupped, and held out the duct tape.
Finn took it and turned it over a couple of times. “You climbed out on the roof to cry over duct tape?”
“No,” Teagan said. “I climbed out on the roof to be alone.”
Finn sat down beside her. “You can do that. In a bit. But if you’re not crying over the duct tape, what are you crying over?”
“I don’t want to—hic—tell you.”
“If you won’t talk about it, girl, I guess I’ll have to. What Roisin said that night . . .”
Teagan put her chin on her knees again. “It’s true.”
“I told you, I knew it was the minute the words left her mouth. It changes a lot of things, doesn’t it?”
Teagan nodded.
“I think so, too. There’s a Travelers’ prayer I learned when I was little: ‘I do not ask for a path with no trouble or regret—’”
“‘I ask instead for a friend who’ll walk with me down any path,’” Teagan finished his sentence for him.
“You know it, then!” Finn said. “That makes it all easier. So, do you get my meaning, girl?”
“No.” He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant. She couldn’t let him.
“No?” Finn ran his good hand through his hair. “I thought it was plain enough. I’m the Mac Cumhaill, that’s the thing, not a word man like your da.”
“And I’m a Highborn,” Teagan said flatly. “Go back to Mamieo and her Travelers’ prayers and leave me alone with my goblin blood.”
“Are you thickheaded?” Finn asked. “I know your blood, and the heart that pumps it. I’m saying I’ll walk with you down any path, as long as I am able. I’d have told you as much that morning in Mag Mell, but you’d have thought it was my promise to Aiden talking, wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“I don’t need magic to make me keep my promises.”
“I know,” Teagan whispered.
“I love you.” ’
“You can’t,” Teagan said.
“Why not?”
“You want to know what I was crying about?”
“I said I did.”
“It’s because I’m not good like you, Finn. I am a goblin. I fed Ginny to the hellhounds. Horrible, nasty Ginny Greenteeth kept her promise, and I used her to save my own life. She begged me not to. But I did exactly what Fear Doirich would have wanted me to, didn’t I? Killing her was useful, just like cousin Kyle said it would be. Will you walk with me down that path, goblin hunter?”
Finn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?”
“Yes.”
Teagan studied her shoes, waiting for him to walk away.
“Look at me, girl.”
She looked up.
“I said I love you. That’s not changing, no matter what you’ve done. But I need to know. Is that the path you intend to walk?”
“No,” Teagan admitted. “I hate it. I hate what I’ve done. But I’ve started down that path, haven’t I? It’s in my blood.”
“You’ve got choices, like any other creature,” Finn said. “You can stumble down that road, pretending you can’t help it. You can curl up and die of regret and sorrow for what you’ve done. Or you can get up and fight, even though the battle might be lost.”
“Did Mamieo teach you that?”
“The Boy Scouts,” Finn said. “Nothing could take it out of those two old men, not the streets, hunger, rags, or curses. They chose their lives. They taught me to choose mine. If you start to walk down that path again, I’ll do my best to bring you back.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Teagan said. “My family is goblin, Finn. I don’t want to drag you into it. I can devolve into something like Kyle. Thomas—a guy who killed an angel—is probably my cousin. I won’t let you love me.”
Finn scratched his head, as if he were considering.
“I may need your permission to kiss you, girl. But I don’t need anyone’s permission to love you. I choose it of my own free will, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Teagan shook her head. “You still don’t get it. I know you thought I was your a gra ma whatever—”
“A ghrá mo chroí,” Finn said. “The love of my heart.”
“—but I’m not. What I did in Mag Mell broke me inside.”
“And isn’t it a Fir Bolg’s job to mend what’s broken, then?”
He reached out and traced a line above her bare arm, his finger an inch from her skin. The electric arc from his fingertip raised goose bumps as it followed his finger down her arm. It made her whole body shiver. “I’ve been wondering if you felt it, too.”
“Yes.” It was impossible to argue when she could hardly breathe.
“That’s good.” Finn nodded. “I’m just not sure what I’m going to do about it.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because of the talk your da gave me that first day.”
“But you asked if you could kiss me after that talk!”
“That’s true,” Finn said. “I didn’t think I needed your da’s advice then. I know I need it now. The man’s had experience in this sort of thing.” A door slammed below them, and Finn stood up.
“In what sort of thing?” Teagan could feel the heat flush her face. “Wait. You didn’t ask me if I loved you! ”
“Didn’t have to.” Finn stepped toward the edge of the roof and looked over. “I’m the Mac Cumhaill, remember? I told you I was going to change that plan of yours.”
Teagan flushed. “I haven’t changed all of it. I’m still headed for Cornell, and I’m not giving that up for anyone. I’ll just have to figure out how I can focus on my studies and work things out with you.”
“This might not be the best time to negotiate the finer points of our relationship,” Finn said. He offered her a hand, and pulled her to her feet. “There’s matters that need looking after.”
“What sort of matters?” Teagan turned to look.
Lennie was standing on the sidewalk, holding Aiden up above his head.
“I see her!” Aiden said, and started waving his arms. “Tea-gan!” he shouted. “Come quick! Thomas is growing feathers! ”
Part I: Lhiannon—Sídhe
One
Teagan Wylltson blinked and tried to focus on her five-year-old brother, Aiden. His best friend, Lennie—a pudgy, pimpled eighteen-year-old—was holding him up so that he could see Teagan’s perch on the roof of the porch. Lucy, the sprite who had taken up residence in her brother’s hair, was zipping excitedly around his head.
“Come quick! Thomas is growing feathers!” Aiden yelled again.
“The man’s shape-shifting,” Finn said. He had taken her hand to pull her to her feet, and he hadn’t let go. Every molecule in her was suddenly vibrating at a higher rate, and webs of electricity spread over her entire body. It felt good. Really good. But it did make it hard to focus.
“Where’s Mamieo, then?” Finn asked.
“She was sitting beside him when I went through the living room,” Teagan said, dropping his hand and stepping away.
Focusing would be a good thing right now. Finn’s grandmother hadn’t been happy when they’d dragged a wounded shape shifter out of Mag Mell, but she’d promised not to harm the creature—so long as he didn’t do anything unnatural.
“Do you think she’ll consider this—”
“Unnatural? I’m sure of it.”
“She wouldn’t—”
“Do away with the creature?” Finn rubbed his chin with the two good fingers of his wounded hand. “I doubt it. But I’d best go check on them just...
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More About the Author
I was born in a trailer in High Rolls, New Mexico, in 1958.
By my sixth birthday, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a writer. I was fascinated by the sound of words, the sweep of story. I wanted to make word magic and tuck it inside the covers of a book.
A writer needs a very tough skin. And she needs something to write about.
Fortunately, my parents were quite eccentric. My childhood can only be described as 'exciting.'
I tracked caribou and arctic wolves across my family's homestead in Alaska, caught tiny tree frogs in the swamps and rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, and chased dust devils and rattlesnakes across the high desert of New Mexico.
Against all odds, I survived my many misadventures. I was not electrocuted or drowned. Most of the bullets missed, and the incidents with bears, snakes, wolves, and angry moose were not fatal.
Before I settled down to have children I worked as a ranch hand, a wood cutter, a lumberjack, a census taker, a wrangler for wilderness guides, and an archeological surveyor.
I am the author of several picture books and many middle grade novels. Tyger Tyger, book one of the Goblin Wars series, is my first novel for young adults.
By my sixth birthday, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a writer. I was fascinated by the sound of words, the sweep of story. I wanted to make word magic and tuck it inside the covers of a book.
A writer needs a very tough skin. And she needs something to write about.
Fortunately, my parents were quite eccentric. My childhood can only be described as 'exciting.'
I tracked caribou and arctic wolves across my family's homestead in Alaska, caught tiny tree frogs in the swamps and rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, and chased dust devils and rattlesnakes across the high desert of New Mexico.
Against all odds, I survived my many misadventures. I was not electrocuted or drowned. Most of the bullets missed, and the incidents with bears, snakes, wolves, and angry moose were not fatal.
Before I settled down to have children I worked as a ranch hand, a wood cutter, a lumberjack, a census taker, a wrangler for wilderness guides, and an archeological surveyor.
I am the author of several picture books and many middle grade novels. Tyger Tyger, book one of the Goblin Wars series, is my first novel for young adults.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A strong finish, but a very slow start,
This review is from: In the Forests of the Night: The Goblin Wars, Book Two (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I really enjoyed the first installment of The Goblin Wars, and was excited to read this second installment. A good amount of time (and many other books) had passed between my readings of the two, and I initially found it hard to get into this second novel. It picks up immediately where the first left off, and I found this kind of awkward. Some time and distance between the events of the first novel and the beginning of this one would have made it easier to ease back in, but the beginning of this book felt disconcertingly like I had put the first one down, wandered away from it for months, and then picked it back up and forgotten where I was in the story.From there, it was something of a long slog to get to the real meat of the book. I thought the first half to two thirds of the book was rather dull. While I really like how Hamilton creates and portrays her characters, I felt like the first part of this book is just too bogged down in the mundane details of their lives. Maybe it was the mundane that really bothered me. There is so much that is strange happening in Teagan's house, and yet there seems to be so little curiosity about it. I wanted more details about Roisin, about Thomas, about Tegan's father, but none of that was really there. I also felt like the romance took something of a strange turn. I didn't find the same spark in it that I'd found in the first. In addition, there was a conversation between Finn and Teagan's father that caused some serious eyebrow raising on my part. I thought it sounded odd, given that Teagan and Finn are both so young. This particular aspect struck me as so incongruous that it kind of jarred me out of the story and lessened the effect. However, once Teagan and Finn return to Mag Mell, things get much better. This, I think, is the true strength of these novels. The portrayal of Mag Mell is so vivid that I could picture it perfectly in my mind. From this point on, the novel is pretty much nonstop action, which was more interesting to me. I guess there was so much momentum in the first that the beginning of the second slowed things down far too much. Had the second begun the way it ended, I think it would have grabbed me right from the beginning instead of it taking so many pages for me to warm up to it. What I really liked was the change in Teagan in this novel. I think she was more passive in the first, more a victim of circumstances. Here, however, Teagan finds herself at a crossroads and she begins to take charge of the events that happen in her life. I am really looking forward to the third because I am eager to see where this new wealth of strength will take Teagan.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Full of love and life,
By
This review is from: In the Forests of the Night: The Goblin Wars, Book Two (Hardcover)
I believe Kersten Hamilton is filling a void left by Diana Wynne Jones--with her own unique voice and point of view, of course. Many of the things I love about DWJ's books I find here: a large cast of characters, a sense of mutual love and affection among the characters, an unexpectedness of plot, joyful and surprising magic, and a sense of barely controlled chaos which makes her books such a fun rollercoaster to read. Be sure to read Book 1 (Tyger, Tyger) first.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In the Forests of the Night,
By Adriana (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In the Forests of the Night: The Goblin Wars, Book Two (Hardcover)
Rarely do I ever love sequels as much as the first book in the series, In the Forests of the Night is definitely an exception to the sequel slump. I'm going to keep this review spoiler free because I don't want to ruin it for those who have yet to read the amazing-ness that is Tyger, Tyger.Teagan's character was so strong, self-less, caring and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her family and friends away from harm. She's one of the few female characters that doesn't have me shaking my head with a "What was she thinking?" Teagan actually seemed to be making the best decisions that will benefit and help the people she cares about even if the choices she makes aren't easy ones. Abby was one of the characters I wanted more of in the sequel and Kersten Hamilton definitely had more of Abby's hilarious ditzy one liners. She definitely brings in the laughs even in some pretty serious and intense situations. Abby is definitely still by Teagan's side and adjusting to all the craziness that comes along with being Teagan's friend. Aiden didn't really have as strong of a role in this book, but he was still the same old adorable, voice prodigy, Elvis impersonator hater, that I loved from the beginning. I'm hoping he'll have a greater role in the next book. The romance is still going strong for Finn and Teagan, but I wasn't really feeling the chemistry with them as much this time around. It wasn't until the second half the book where I started seeing the spark come back. It will be interesting to see where these two will end up. I'll admit the story was a bit slow to start as we read about the day to day lives of Tea, her family, friends, and the hectic household filled with strange creatures running/flying around. I actually enjoyed reading about their lives and it was a nice build up to when they go back into Mag Mell, which like I said in my review for Tyger, Tyger is a character in itself. The book was filled with so much suspense and drama by the end that the wait for the next book is going to be extremely hard. The Goblin Wars series is filled with everything I love and I will strongly recommend to everyone who wants a great entertaining read.
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