Wonderful people throughout the author’s life provided unique and irreplaceable lessons and inspirations:
Juniper
Russell
Esther
Smith
Vicky Ball
Dottie Frisbie
Linda
Dezzutti Martha
Higgins
Jennifer Carolyn Gates
Susanne Koller
Rachael
Bleich Charleen
Cox
Paula Wells
Meredith Herzog
Sarah
Satterthwaite
Patricia
Sharp
Ashley
Riddle Peter
James
Antonya Pickard
Valuable readers gave the author feedback after digging through early drafts of the book:
Taia
Handlin
Ardith
Libby
Janet Powers
Dan Clark
Susan Drake
Cecelia Harper
Karen
Oster
Holly
Chalcraft
Toni
Corkran
Karen
Pihlak
Katheryn
Brunswick Margaret
Brunswick
Krista
Reichard
Jessica
Johnson
Shelley & Jimmy Johnson
Elwin Aragorn
Brendan
Aragorn
Jennifer
&
Kate
Westran
Deborah Meier
Mike & Ann Bergey
Martha
Higgins
Katie
Norris
Aurora WindDancer
Excellent critiquers commented on thousands of passages, then provided reactions during in-depth interviews:
Sidney Oster, 8
Dylan Oster, 9
Sarah Bray, 10
Joshua Clark, 10
River Lyons, 10
Mitchell Bendis, 10
Catherine “Cat” Harper, 10
Kacie Wilson, 10
Aditya Srinivasan, 11
Courtney Snyder, 11
Madison Frasier, 11
Thurston Coatney, 12
Ruth Drake, 12
Jarret Beckoff, 12
Jasper W. Romero, 12
Mariah Bruns, 13
Cherish Broker, 13
Kristen Voie, 14
Hannah Li Powers, 14
Patrick Murray, 15
Alex Chalcraft, 15
Kathryn C., 15
Laurel Koran, 15
Stephanie Louie, 16
Abby Powers, 16
Abigail Bodley, 16
Brie
Polette,
17
Rachael
Hedges
Winn
Barrientos
Elizabeth
Renguso
Beth Littlewolf
Careful publishing assistants and proofreaders brought the final manuscript as close to perfection as possible:
Sarah Bray, 10
Mitchell Bendis, 10
Mariah Bruns, 13
Joshua Utter, 14
Alex
Chalcraft,
15
Faylyn,
17
Amanda Herman, 17
Rachael Hedges
Deborah Meier
Contents
1 First
Contact ...................................................................... 1
2 The Capital City (with city map) ....................................... 5
3 Making an Entrance ........................................................ 10
4 The City and Its Ways...................................................... 13
5 The Best and the Worst ...................................................20
6 Heavy Wooden Gates ...................................................... 27
7 No Stone Unturned..........................................................33
8 Making a New Plan..........................................................38
9 The Place of Dread...........................................................42
10 Asking the Impossible .....................................................49
11 Finding Help.................................................................... 55
12 A New Candidate .............................................................59
13 A Matter of the Heart ......................................................65
14 The Hardest Decision .......................................................71
15 The Longest Day .............................................................. 77
16 Making Sense of It All......................................................99
17 Clarity............................................................................. 104
18 Ritual .............................................................................. 111
19 Ground Rules..................................................................115
20 Witch.............................................................................. 122
21 The Puzzle...................................................................... 128
22 Learning to Learn .......................................................... 135
23 A Real Test ..................................................................... 139
24 Consonant Stops and Nursery Rhymes......................... 145
25 Freedom is Worth a Million ...........................................151
26 The Gold Piece ............................................................... 158
27 Walking Tall................................................................... 167
28 Pastries and Ethics .........................................................171
29 Prized Possessions......................................................... 178
30 Plans and Preparations ................................................. 184
31 Learning to Walk ............................................................191
32 Learning to Run............................................................ 200
33 Kibi.................................................................................207
34 Sanctuary ........................................................................211
35 In the Eye of the Storm.................................................. 214
36 Departure....................................................................... 227
37 The Dark Way ................................................................ 231
38 Old Timbers and Ropes ................................................. 237
39 The Way Down...............................................................245
40 Ultimate Trust ...............................................................250
41 Freedom Without Walls ................................................256
“Personal power is the ability to stand on your own two feet, with a smile on your face, in the middle of a universe that contains a million ways to crush you.”
— Nebador Transport Service saying
NEBADOR Book One: The Test 1
