Prospero Lost: Prospero's Daughter, Book I

PROSPERO LOST

TOR BOOKS BY
L. JAGI LAMPLIGHTER

Prospero Lost
Prospero in Hell
(forthcoming)

____________________________

L. Jagi Lamplighter

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

PROSPERO LOST

Copyright © 2009 by L. Jagi Lamplighter

All rights reserved.

Edited by James Frenkel

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates,
LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
^®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

                  Lamplighter, L. Jagi.

                          Prospero lost  /  L. Jagi Lamplighter.—1st ed.

                              p.    cm.—(Prospero’s daughter  ;  bk. 1)

                          ISBN 978-0-7653-1929-6

                          1.  Sisters Fiction.   2.  Magicians—Fiction.   I.  Title.

                      PS3612.A547435P76    2009

                      813'.6—dc22

2009016708

First Edition: September 2009

Printed in the United States of America

0   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

To William Shakespeare and John C. Wright
who, between them,
invented nearly every character in this story
except for Mab Boreal, Astreus, and Caurus

Thank you to:

Mark Whipple, Dave Eckstein, and Catherine Rockwood, without whose insistence this novel would have been abandoned in its infancy.

To Von Long, Erin Furby, Kirsten Edwards, Bill Burns, Dave Coffman, Elizabeth Livingston, Jeff Lyman, Melanie Florence, Jessie Harris, Donna Royston, Robin Buehler, Jane Thornley, Don Schank, and Diana Hardy for their support and advice, and to Danielle Ackley-McPhail and the Yesterday’s Dreamers for all their useful ideas concerning the craft of writing.

To my editor, Jim Frenkel, for not giving up on me! And to my agent, Richard Curtis, the Knight in Shining Armor who gives me hope!

To Milton, whose title, I hope, this book honors rather than mocks.

And, most important, to my mother, Jane Lamplighter, without whose selfless devotion to her grandchildren this book literally could not have been written.

ONE
:   
Miranda

TWO
:   
The Great Hall

THREE
:   
Mephistopheles

FOUR
:   
Secrets from the Past

FIVE
:   
The Chameleon Cloak

SIX
:   
Theophrastus

SEVEN
:   
Our Father Which Art in Hell

EIGHT
:   
The Circle of Solomon

NINE
:   
The Gate in the Crate

TEN
:   
An Unexpected Encounter

ELEVEN
:   
Of Tall Dark Men

TWELVE
:   
Dances With Elves

THIRTEEN
:   
Never Traffic With Spirits, Ma’am

FOURTEEN
:   
Logistilla

FIFTEEN
:   
Raiding the Treasures of the Popes of Rome

SIXTEEN
:   
The Three Shadowed Ones

SEVENTEEN
:   
Prospero, Inc.

EIGHTEEN
:   
The Secret Known Only to Cats

NINETEEN
:   
The Prince of Naples

TWENTY
:   
The Chapel of the Unicorn

TWENTY-ONE
:   
A Cold and Bumpy Ride

TWENTY-TWO
:   
The Mansion of Father Christmas

TWENTY-THREE
:   
The Scrying Pool of Naughty and Nice

TWENTY-FOUR
:   
The Feast of Christmas

TWENTY-FIVE
:   
And Should You Grant My Heart’s Desire . . .

PROSPERO LOST

It was after midnight when I discovered Father’s last message.

After a long day of work, I had been relaxing in the lesser hall of Prospero’s Mansion in Oregon, flipping through one of my father’s old journals, when I came across a blank page. An intuition from my Lady prompted me to hold the book up to the phoenix lamp.

With a loud crackle, red-gold sparks leapt from the burning phoenix feather housed in a glass lantern beside the hearth and crawled across the journal, scorching words into the parchment. A strong odor of burnt paper and cinnamon filled the air. I nearly dropped the book.

I had seen secrets revealed by the phoenix lamp before. Father had a habit of scribbling notes in the margins that could only be read in this way. Normally, the letters appeared slowly. This smoldering script was something new.

The blazing letters read:

My Child:
I have unwittingly unleashed powers best kept bound. If I fail to constrain them, they will destroy me and all I have wrought. If you have not seen me since the writing of this message, assume the worst and warn the family. Counsel my children to keep close the gifts I have bestowed. Beware the Three Shadowed Ones!

Prospero,

Magus

I turned the page, but the rest of the journal was blank, even by phoenix lamp.

Was Father in trouble, or was this another of his pranks? Our family had many supernatural enemies. We had bound many malevolent creatures
throughout our long lives, any number of which could have broken free of their restraints. On the other hand, in the last century or so, Father seemed to handle every difficulty that came his way with ease. This letter was most likely one of Father’s many jests, set up years ago to startle any youngster unlawfully searching his books. Finding no further evidence that this message had been written recently—and not knowing any method by which he could have sent it into the book from a distance—I dismissed it and continued reading.