Key Of Valor Read Free

there, in the box, and can’t get out until the keys are turned in the lock—one by one—and only by the hand of a mortal. A human.”
    Because her fingers tingled, she rubbed them on the skirt of her dress. “See, because they were half human, this sorcerer made it so only someone from our world could save them. Because he didn’t think it could be done. The teacher was given the keys—but she can’t work them—and she and the warrior were cast out, and into this world. In every generation they have to ask three humans, the three humans who are the only ones who can unlock the box, to find the keys. They have to be hidden and found as part of the quest, part of the spell. And each one of the chosen has to go in turn, and has just four weeks to find the key and put it in the lock.”
    â€œWow, are you one of the ones who has to find a key? How come you were chosen?”
    She let out a little breath. Her son was a bright and logical boy. “I don’t know exactly. We look—Mal, Dana, and I—we look like the daughters. The Daughters of Glass, they’re called. Rowena’s an artist, and she has a painting of them at the Peak. It’s connections, Simon. There’s something that connects us to each other, to the keys, and to the daughters. I guess you could say it’s fate.”
    â€œIf you don’t find the keys, they’re just stuck in the box?”
    â€œTheir souls are. Their bodies are in glass coffins—um, like Snow White. Waiting.”
    â€œRowena and Pitte, they’re the teacher and the guard.” He nodded. “And you and Malory and Dana have to find the keys and fix everything.”
    â€œPretty much. Malory and Dana have already had their turns, and they each found the key. It’s my turn now.”
    â€œYou’ll find it.” He gave her a solemn nod. “You always find stuff when I lose it.”
    If only, she thought, it was as simple as finding her son’s favorite action figure. “I’m going to try as hard as I can. I have to tell you, Simon, the sorcerer—his name is Kane—he’s tried to stop us. He’ll try to stop me. It’s really scary, but I have to try.”
    â€œYou’ll kick his butt.”
    The laugh eased some of the knots in her stomach. “That’s my plan. I wasn’t going to tell you all this, but then it didn’t seem right not to.”
    â€œBecause we’re a team.”
    â€œYeah, we’re a great team.”
    She paused at the open gates of Warrior’s Peak.
    The gates were flanked by two stone warriors, hands ready on the hilts of their swords. They looked so fierce to her, so formidable. Connections? she thought. What connection could someone like her have to warriors at the gate?
    Still, taking a deep breath, Zoe drove through.
    â€œHoly cow,” Simon said beside her.
    â€œAnd then some.”
    She understood his reaction to the house. Hers had been the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed stare the first time she’d seen it up close.
    Though “house,” she supposed, was too ordinary a word for the Peak. Part castle, part fortress, it stood high over the Valley, rose up like the majestic hills and ruled them. Itspeaks and towers were made of black stone with gargoyles perched on eaves as if they might leap, not so playfully, at their whim. It was a massive place, surrounded by lush lawns that slid into thick woods gone shadowy with evening.
    High on the topmost tower flew a white flag with the emblem of a golden key.
    The sun was setting behind it, so the canvas of the sky was streaked with red and gold, adding yet another layer of drama.
    Soon the sky would be black, Zoe thought, with only the thinnest sliver of moon. Tomorrow was the first night of the new moon, the beginning of her quest.
    â€œIt’s really something inside, too. Like something you’d see in a movie. Don’t touch