"The Perilous Realm is not just a world with stories in it. This world is Story. Whatever you might find in a story, you will find here. Adventures, strange encounters, riddles. Heroes and monsters. Bravery, goodness and terrible evil."
Will has returned from his exhilarating adventure in the Realm and is back at home with his family trying to go through the motions of ordinary life. But he is dogged by feelings of restlessness and is desperate to see Rowen again. It's not long before he obeys the irresistible pull to return to Fable and resumes his quest. Will is shocked to discover that in the time since he left he's become a legend. He is greeted as a returning hero. Soon enough, Will may have to test his true heroism: Rowen is missing and in great danger. Will must stop the evil Malabron before Rowen and all of Fable are swept up by his wicked scheme.
-Maclean's THOMAS WHARTON's first novel, Icefields (1995), won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean), and was chosen as a CBC Canada Reads title. His second novel, Salamander (2001), was shortlisted for the Governor-General's Literary Award and the Rogers' Writers' Fiction Prize. A collection of short fiction, The Logogryph, was shortlisted for the 2006 IMPAC-Dublin Prize. The Fathomless Fire is the second book in a trilogy, following The Shadow of Malabron. He lives in Edmonton with his wife and three children, and is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alberta. HE WAS LEAVING TONIGHT. He couldn't wait any longer. Will stuffed the bottle of water into his pack with the apple and the energy bars. He looked around his tiny, low ceilinged bedroom, wondering if there was anything else he should bring. It all depended, he thought, on how long he would be gone. And that was something he didn't know.
From the floor below came a clatter of pots and pans. Dad was making dinner, and apparently destroying the kitchen in the process. The noise was surprisingly loud, as if Dad was in the same room with him. Will wasn't used to the way sound carried in this new house, but then he wasn't used to a lot about it yet. His family had moved in only a few weeks ago, after travelling across the country from the town that Will had lived in all his life. He hadn't wanted to move in the first place, and when they'd first pulled up in front of this ramshackle little two-storey house, with its peeling paint and unmown lawn, his heart had sunk. But now, despite the unfamiliar smells and the cramped quarters, made worse by all their still-unpacked boxes, he had to admit there was something he liked about the place. It was at the edge of town, on a quiet, tree-shaded road lined with other houses of the same age and state of repair. There wasn't much traffic. It was a place where you could come and go without many people around to notice.
Looking out of his window now he could see trees and a few scattered rooftops. The house, he thought, stood between two worlds, the city and the country. And that was it. The house was like him. Between worlds.
"What are you doing?"
Will jumped and turned to the door. His little sister Jess stood there, a doll tucked under one arm and a wide-eyed look of curiosity on her face.
"Nothing," Will said quickly.
"Are you going somewhere?"
She was eyeing the pack he was still holding in his hand. Since they'd moved in Jess had been coming into his room without warning, as if the house was so new to her she was still figuring out the living arrangements. He shouldn't have left his door open.
"For a hike, maybe," Will said, tossing the pack onto his bed with what he hoped looked like a casual gesture. "Tomorrow, if it's a nice day."
