Extraction

Contributors

By Douglas Preston

By Lincoln Child

Formats and Prices

Price

$2.99

Price

$3.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook (Digital original) $2.99 $3.99 CAD
  2. Audiobook Download (Unabridged)

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around October 16, 2012. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

In this spellbinding short story from two #1 New York Times bestselling authors, a young Pendergast must protect his brother from a sinister New Orleans legend.

In New Orleans’ French Quarter, the Tooth Fairy isn’t a benevolent sprite who slips money under your pillow at night….he’s a mysterious old recluse who must be appeased with teeth–lest he extract retribution. When young Diogenes Pendergast loses a tooth, however, his skeptical older brother Aloysius is determined to put the legend to the test…with dire consequences.

*Includes a special preview chapter of Preston & Child’s new full-length novel TWO GRAVES, available December 11, 2012.

Excerpt

Begin Reading

Table of Contents

More Preston and Child

By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Newsletters

Copyright Page

In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.




Extraction

Three people occupied the large, dimly lit library within the mansion that stood alone and aloof at 891 Riverside Drive, New York City. Two of them sat in armchairs before a crackling fire. One, Special Agent A. X. L. Pendergast, was paging listlessly through a catalog of Bordeaux wine futures. Across from him, his ward Constance was absorbed in a treatise titled Medieval Trephination: Tools and Techniques.

The third occupant of the room was not seated, but instead paced irritably up and down. He was a strange, comical figure: small of stature, dressed in a swallowtail coat, with all manner of odd charms and relics dangling from his neck on silver chains, which clanked and jingled with his movements. As he walked, he supported himself upon a cudgel-like cane whose handle was carved into the semblance of a grinning skull. Now and then his stomach could be heard to growl in empty complaint. This was Monsieur Bertin, Pendergast's old childhood tutor in natural history, zoology, and more outré subjects. He was currently in New York City, visiting his old protégé.

"This is outrageous!" he called across the library. "Fou, très fou! Why, in New Orleans I would have finished dinner hours ago. Look—it's practically midnight!"

"It's not yet half past eight, maître," Pendergast said with a faint smile.

A form appeared in the doorway of the library, and Pendergast glanced over. "Yes, Mrs. Trask?"

"It's Cook," the housekeeper replied. "She's asked me to tell you that dinner will be half an hour late."

Bertin gave an expostulation of disgust.

"I'm afraid she overboiled the pasta," Mrs. Trask went on, "and will have to make another batch."

"Tell her not to concern herself about it," Pendergast replied. "We're in no rush."

Mrs. Trask nodded, turned, and vanished from sight.

"No rush!" Bertin said. "Speak for yourself. Here I am, a guest in your house—starved like a prisoner in the Bastille. After tonight, my digestion will never be the same."

"Believe me, maître, it will be worth the wait. Tagliatelle al tartufo bianco is a very simple dish, and yet nevertheless of great refinement." Pendergast paused, as if already tasting, in his mind, the meal to come. "It is made of the finest fresh white truffles, finely shaved; butter; and tagliatelle pasta. Cook is using truffles from Alba, of course, in the Piedmont. They are the finest in the world—by weight they cost almost as much as gold."

"Gah!" Bertin said. "I will never understand this Yankee fascination for undercooked pasta."

Now Constance spoke for the first time. "It's no Yankee fascination. The Italians themselves prefer their pasta firm: al dente—to the tooth."

This explanation seemed only to irritate Bertin. "Well, I like my spaghetti soft—just like my rice and my grits. So that makes me a philistine, oui? Al dente—bah!" He turned to Constance. "Ask your guardian about 'dents.' Now, there's a story to pass the time while one is dying of hunger."

He left in a huff, the sound of his cane gradually diminishing as it clacked across the floor of the reception room beyond.

For a moment the library went quiet. Constance glanced over at Pendergast. His eyes were lingering on the doorway through which Bertin had just exited. Then he turned to Constance. "Bertin is certainly an edacious fellow. Pay no attention. By the time we reach the main course, his good cheer will have returned, I assure you."

"What did he mean by a story about 'dents'?" Constance asked.

Pendergast hesitated. "You wouldn't care to hear it. I'm sure. It isn't pleasant. And… it involves my brother."

A brief, unreadable look passed over Constance's face. "That only whets my interest more."

For a long time, Pendergast did not speak. His gaze went very far away. Constance said nothing, waiting patiently. Finally, with a deep breath, Pendergast began.

"You know the children's fable of the tooth fairy?"

"Of course. When I was a child, my parents would slip a penny under my pillow in exchange for a tooth—when they had any money, that is."

"Quite. In the French Quarter of New Orleans, where I spent much of my childhood, we had that same quaint legend. Except we also had an additional, or perhaps parallel, legend to go with it."

"Parallel?"

Genre:

On Sale
Oct 16, 2012
Page Count
128 pages
ISBN-13
9781455528080

Douglas Preston

About the Author

The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child "stand head and shoulders above their rivals" (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child's Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number‑one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include Bloodless, The Scorpion’s Tail, Crooked River, Old Bones, and Verses for the Dead. In addition to his novels, Preston writes about archaeology for the New Yorker and Smithsonian magazines. Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published seven novels of his own, including such bestsellers as Full Wolf Moon and Deep Storm.

Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly "strangely entertaining note" from the authors, at their website, http://www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their Facebook page, where they post regularly.

Learn more about this author

Lincoln Child

About the Author

The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child “stand head and shoulders above their rivals” (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child’s Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series and their recent novels include Crooked River, Old Bones, Verses for the Dead, and City of Endless Night.

In addition to his novels, Douglas Preston writes about archaeology for The New Yorker and National Geographic magazines. Lincoln Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published seven novels of his own, including bestsellers such as Full Wolf Moon and Deep Storm.
Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly “strangely entertaining note” from the authors, at their website, http://www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly.

Learn more about this author