Ash and Quill

Gr 8 Up—Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Jess Brightwell and his friends are forced to flee to Philadelphia, where they're imprisoned by the fanatical Burners. The ace up their sleeve is the same one they would have used with Jess's father if they hadn't been captured. Thomas's printing press would destroy the library's hold over the populace, and the Burners' leader seems ready to negotiate for ownership of this illegal technology. But Jess knows he and his friends' lives will be forfeit once the press has been built. The seven friends formulate a plan of escape to coincide with the press's completion, unaware that the Archivist Magister has discovered their location. An attack is launched on the Burners' stronghold just before Jess and company can run off. Help comes from unlikely sources, and Jess is inconveniently indebted to his family and their black market contacts even as he realizes that he and his companions are still dispensable pawns in someone else's game. Amid the luxurious trappings of his father's castle, Jess is once again negotiating a fatal bargain and plotting escape. Caine skillfully demonstrates that right and wrong are always shrouded in shades of gray. This volume maintains the series's signature high-level intensity with characters who continue to grow and evolve along with the narrative.