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Nightfall (Keeper of the Lost Cities Series #6)
by Shannon MessengerShannon Messenger
Paperback(Reprint)
A New York Times bestselling series
A USA TODAY bestselling series
A California Young Reader Medal–winning series
Sophie and her friends face battles unlike anything they've seen before in this thrilling sixth book of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.
Sophie Foster is struggling. Grieving. Scrambling. But she knows one thing: she will not be defeated.
The Neverseen have had their victories—but the battle is far from over. It's time to change tactics. Make sacrifices. Reexamine everything. Maybe even time for Sophie to trust her enemies.
All paths lead to Nightfall—an ominous door to an even more ominous place—and Sophie and her friends strike a dangerous bargain to get there. But nothing can prepare them for what they discover. The problems they're facing stretch deep into their history. And with time running out, and mistakes catching up with them, Sophie and her allies must join forces in ways they never have before.
In this spectacular sixth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must uncover the truth about the Lost Cities' insidious past, before it repeats itself and changes reality.
Keeper of the Lost Cities Series , #6
Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She's studied art, screenwriting, and film production, but she realized her real passion was writing stories for children. She's the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the award-winning middle grade series, Keeper of the Lost Cities, as well as the Sky Fall series for young adults. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many different languages. She lives in Southern California with an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at ShannonMessenger.com.
YOU REMEMBER ME?"
The question slipped from Sophie's lips before she could stop it, and the weighted words seemed to hit the floor of the messy bedroom with a thud.
The wide-eyed, trembling girl standing in front of her slowly nodded, and Sophie's heart swelled even as it plummeted into the sour pit of her stomach.
Her little sister shouldn't remember her.
Technically, she wasn't even her sister—at least not genetically. Sure, they'd grown up together in the same house in San Diego, California, both believing they had the same parents—despite the fact that Sophie's blond hair and brown eyes didn't match her family of light-eyed brunettes.
But that was before.
Now they were in the after.
A world where elves were real creatures—and nothing like the silly stories that humans had invented about them. They were beautiful. Powerful. Practically immortal. Living across the globe in hidden glittering cities. Ruling the earth from the shadows.
And Sophie was one of them.
Born from humans—but not human—as part of a rebel group's secret genetic experiment called Project Moonlark. Her DNA had been tweaked. Her abilities enhanced and manipulated. All to mold her into something special.
Something powerful.
Something she still didn't fully understand.
And after years of feeling out of place—even among the family she loved—the elves finally showed Sophie the truth about her life and brought her to the Lost Cities. They'd planned to fake her death to cover her disappearance, but she'd begged to be erased instead, to spare her parents the grief of losing a child. So her family's minds had been "washed" by specially trained Telepaths, to make them forget that Sophie had ever been born. And they'd been relocated to a new city and given new names, new jobs, even the fancy new Tudor-style house that Sophie now stood in, with its quaint windows and wood-paneled walls.
But erased memories were never truly gone. All it took was the right trigger and . . .
"I don't understand," her sister whispered, rubbing her eyes like it would change what she was seeing. "You . . . shouldn't be here."
Major understatement.
Sophie wasn't supposed to know her family's new names or where they lived—and she definitely hadn't been allowed to visit them—to ensure that something like this never happened. And yet, here she was, raising a mental shield to block her sister's chaotic thoughts as they pounded through her consciousness like stampeding mastodons. Human minds were more open than elvin minds, and they broadcast everything like a radio station on full blast.
"Listen, Amy—"
"That's not my name!"
Sophie kicked herself for the slip. "Right, I meant—"
"Wait." Her sister mouthed the name a few more times, as if her lips were remembering the feel of it. "It is, isn't it? I'm . . . Amy Foster?"
Sophie nodded.
"Then who's Natalie Freeman?"
"That's . . . also you."
Amy—Natalie—whatever Sophie was supposed to call her—groaned and pressed her fingers against her temples.
"I know how confusing this must be," Sophie told her. Triggered memories tended to flash back in scattered bits and pieces, leaving lots of holes. "I promise I'll explain, but—"
"Not right now," a crisply accented voice finished for her.
Sophie flinched. She'd almost forgotten they had an audience for the Most Stressful Family Reunion in the History of Family Reunions.
"Who are you?" her sister asked, backing away from the guys standing slightly behind Sophie.
"That's Fitz," Sophie said, pointing to a dark-haired boy whose teal eyes flashed as he offered a smile that would put any movie star to shame. "And that's Keefe."
Keefe gave her sister his famous smirk, reaching up to smooth his expertly tousled blond hair. "Don't worry—we're all in the Foster Fan Club."
"They're my friends," Sophie clarified when her sister shrank back another step. "You can trust them."
"I don't even know if I can trust you." Her eyes narrowed at Sophie's outfit: a fitted purple tunic with black leggings, boots, and wrist-length black gloves. Fitz and Keefe also wore tunics and pants, and while none of the outfits were that elf-y, they definitely stood out next to her sister's jeans and TARDIS T-shirt.
"You trusted us enough to stop hiding, right?" Keefe asked, pointing to the still-open closet door.
Sophie's sister turned toward the dark nook she'd emerged from, where most of the clothes had been heaped into a pile on the floor. "I only came out because I heard you guys say you'd get my parents back."
And there it was. The reason Sophie had broken all the rules and raced to the Forbidden Cities to check on her family. She'd spent months protecting her adoptive elvin parents, believing they were the ones that Keefe had warned her were in danger. But they'd both forgotten she had another family to worry about—a family without powerful abilities and bodyguards to keep them safe.
"Can you really find Mom and Dad?" her sister whispered, giving Sophie the cue to tell her, "Of course we will! Everything is going to be okay!"
Sophie wanted to. But . . . the Neverseen were behind this.
The same villains who'd kidnapped Sophie, tortured her, and killed people she dearly loved. And no matter how hard Sophie fought to stop them, they always seemed to be ten steps ahead.
Keefe reached for Sophie's shaky hand. "We'll get them back safe. I promise."
His tone was pure determination. But Sophie could see a shadow darkening his ice-blue eyes.
A few months earlier, Keefe had run away to join the Neverseen, planning to be a double agent and destroy the wicked organization from the inside out—but they'd played him the whole time, tricking him into leading Sophie and her friends down the wrong paths.
Part of Sophie wanted to shove Keefe away, let him shoulder the blame for every terrible thing that had happened. But deep down she knew he wasn't the only one who'd missed the warning signs. He'd also been working every day to make up for his mistakes. Plus, it was dangerous to let him feel guilty. The elvin conscience was too fragile for that kind of burden.
So Sophie squeezed his hand, twining their fingers together as she turned back to her sister. "It'll help if you tell us everything you can about the people who took Mom and Dad."
Her sister wrapped her arms around her stomach, which wasn't as plump as Sophie remembered. She looked taller now too. And her curly brown hair was cut shorter. In fact, everything about her seemed so much older than the hyper nine-year-old she'd been when Sophie had left—and it hadn't even been two full years.
"I don't remember much," her sister mumbled. "Dad was helping me with my homework when we heard strange voices downstairs. He told me to stay quiet while he went to see what was going on, but I snuck out to the landing and . . ." She swallowed hard. "I saw four people in the living room wearing long black cloaks with these creepy white eyes on their sleeves. Mom was passed out over one of their shoulders, and another had a cloth pressed over Dad's mouth. I wanted to run down and help—but there were so many of them. And Dad stopped moving a couple of seconds later. I tried to crawl to a phone to call the police, but then I heard them say something about searching the rest of the house, so I ducked into the nearest closet and buried myself in clothes."
Sophie shuddered as she imagined it, and her nose burned with a sweet scent, remembering the smell of the cloying drugs the Neverseen favored during their abductions. "Did you see any of their faces?"
"They had their hoods up the whole time. But one of them . . ."
"One of them what?" Sophie pressed.
"You're not going to believe me."
"Try us," Keefe said. "You'd be surprised what we can believe after hanging around this one."
He elbowed Sophie gently in the ribs, and Sophie knew he was trying to break the tension. Humor was Keefe's favorite coping mechanism.
But she didn't have the energy to joke around. Especially when her sister whispered, "One of the guys kept disappearing somehow. Like with quick flashes, fading in and out of sight."
Fitz muttered something under his breath. "That was Alvar."
"You know him?"
"He's done a lot of awful things," Sophie jumped in, shooting Fitz a please-don't-say-he's-your-brother look. She doubted it would help her sister trust them.
"How did he disappear like that?" her sister whispered. "It almost looked like . . ."
"Magic?" Sophie guessed with a sad smile. "I remember thinking that too, the first time I saw it. But he's what we call a Vanisher. All he's doing is manipulating light."
"What about the mind reading thing?" her sister asked. "One of them said he was listening for nearby thoughts as he searched the house, so I thought about darkness and silence just in case."
"That was really smart," Sophie told her, stunned she had managed to pull that off.
Her sister shrugged. "I've seen a lot of movies. But . . . could he really do that?"
"If he was a Telepath," Fitz said. "Which means it was probably Gethen."
The name sent Sophie spiraling into nightmares of crumbling castle walls and jagged mazes of rubble. Screams echoed in her ears as the world turned red—partially with her rage, but mostly with the memory of a wound that cut too deep for her to stop the bleeding.
A slow breath cleared her head, and Sophie concentrated on her churning emotions, imagining her anger, fear, and grief as thick threads before tying them into a knot under her ribs. She'd learned the technique from her inflicting mentor, a way of storing the power as a reserve. Embracing the darkness to let it fuel her later.
"Are you okay?" Keefe asked, tightening his hold on her hand.
It took Sophie a second to realize he was also talking to her sister, who'd turned so pale her skin had a greenish sheen.
"None of this should be real," her sister whispered. "These things you're telling me. These weird names you keep saying. Mom and Dad being taken. And then you show up out of nowhere and it feels like . . . like you should've been here this whole time. And now my name feels wrong. And this house feels wrong. Everything feels wrong."
Sophie hesitated before moving to her sister's side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They hadn't been touchy-feely sisters back when they'd lived together. In fact, they'd spent most of their time bickering.
But after a second, her sister hugged her back.
"Where have you been, Sophie? And how do you know these scary people?"
Sophie sighed. "There's a really long, really complicated story I need to tell you. But right now, we need to stay focused on finding Mom and Dad, okay? Did you hear anything else that might be useful?"
"Just the part I already told you, about taking them to Nightfall. Do you know what that means?"
Sophie glanced at Fitz and Keefe.
They'd only seen the word once, in one of Keefe's recently recovered memories—an inscription carved in elvin runes across a mysterious silver door set into a mountain:
The star only rises at Nightfall.
They didn't know what the phrase meant, or where the door led, or even precisely where the door was. But they knew it unlocked with Keefe's blood, and that his mom—who'd been one of the leaders of the Neverseen before getting trapped in an ogre prison—had declared it to be his "legacy."
If that door leads to Nightfall, Sophie transmitted to Keefe, sending her thoughts directly into his head, wouldn't the Neverseen need to have you with them in order to get inside?
Keefe focused on the floor. They would, if they didn't already have some of my blood.
Yeah . . . not-so-funny story: I traded some for part of the secret I needed to steal the caches.
Caches were marble-size gadgets the Councillors used to store Forgotten Secrets—information deemed too dangerous for anyone to keep in their memory. Councillor Kenric had given Sophie his when he died—and Keefe had stolen it from her to buy his way into the Neverseen. But he got it back before he fled—and he also took the cache that belonged to Fintan, their leader. Dex was now trying to use his ability as a Technopath to hack into the gadgets. But even if they learned something important, Sophie never would've told Keefe to trade his blood for the caches.
I know, Keefe told her. It wasn't my most brilliant idea. I thought I was so close to taking the Neverseen down that it wasn't going to matter. So, when Fintan asked for my blood, I told him he needed to prove that I could trust him by answering one question. And once he did, I had to hold up my end of the deal.
But I thought you were going to trade Tam's leaping crystal for that information, Sophie reminded him. Wasn't that why you left me stranded in one of the Neverseen's hideouts?
Keefe cringed.
Of all the mistakes he'd made during his time with the Neverseen, that one had been the hardest for Sophie to forgive.
That was my plan, Keefe admitted. But Fintan interrogated me when I got back, and I had to use the crystal to convince him not to burn off my arm.
Ice rippled through Sophie's veins. You never told me that part.
His shadowed eyes made her wonder what other nightmares he'd secretly endured. But she'd have to save those worries for another time. At the moment, they had much more complicated problems.
Do you really think Fintan would help you steal the caches if they're actually important?
Yeah, Foster. I do. Because he had no idea that he gave me the other piece of the code phrase weeks earlier, after he had too much fizzleberry wine. Trading my blood was a bad call. But I SWEAR the caches are still a score. And I should've told you—I was planning on it, and then everything happened in Lumenaria and I forgot.
Sophie closed her eyes, wishing she could stop her mind from flashing to crumbling walls. But the memories refused to be ignored.
In one night, the Neverseen had destroyed the elves' magnificent glowing castle while Sophie, the Council, and the leaders of all the intelligent species were inside for the ogre Peace Summit. Most of the leaders made it out with only minor injuries—and Lumenaria was already being rebuilt. But nothing could erase the message the Neverseen sent that day, or bring back the prisoner that had escaped from the dungeon, or the lives that had been stolen away.
I'll fix this, okay? Keefe promised. I'm going to fix everything.
You mean "we," Sophie corrected. WE are going to fix this.
If they'd learned one thing from all the disasters over the last few months, it was that none of them should be working alone. It was going to take all of their abilities, all of their ideas—and a scary amount of luck—to get through whatever this was.
Does that mean you don't hate me? Keefe asked. His mental tone sounded softer—almost timid.
I told you, I'm never going to hate you, Keefe.
But I keep giving you new reasons to change your mind.
Yeah, you really need to stop that. She offered him half a smile, and he gave her the same when she added, But we're in this together.
Team Foster-Keefe IS pretty awesome.
And Team Vacker-Foster-Keefe is even better, Fitz transmitted, making Sophie wonder how long he'd been eavesdropping.
Fitz was one of the only Telepaths who knew how to slip past Sophie's impenetrable mental blocking. Actually, he was the only one, now that Mr. Forkle was . . .
Sophie shut down the devastating thought, not ready to tear open the still-too-fresh wound.
Don't worry, she told Fitz. We're going to need all the help we can get.
Though we need a WAY cooler name, Keefe jumped in. How about Team Foster-Keefe and the Wonderboy?
Fitz rolled his eyes.
"Why are you guys staring at each other like that?" her sister asked, reminding them they had someone watching their rather lengthy mental exchange.
"We're just trying to figure out where Nightfall could be," Sophie told her.
She'd have to reveal her telepathy eventually—as well as her other special abilities—but she wanted to give her sister more time to adjust before she dropped the I can read minds and teleport and inflict pain and speak any language and enhance other people's powers bombshells. "Can you think of anything else that might be important?"
"Not really. After they said the thing about Nightfall, the house got super quiet. I waited another couple of minutes to make sure it was safe, and then I ran for Mom's phone and called 911. I was scared the police would take me if they knew I was here alone, so I said I was walking by the house and saw men dragging two people away. I hid in the trees when the cops showed up—but maybe that was a bad idea. I heard them say they thought my call was a prank, since there were no signs of robbery. One of them said something about following up in a few days, but so far, I haven't seen them."
"How long ago was that?" Fitz asked.
Her chin wobbled. "Five days."
Keefe looked like he was trying hard not to swear. Sophie felt like doing the same—or punching the walls and screaming as loud as she could.
"You don't think it's too late, do you?" her sister whispered. "You don't think they're . . . ?"
"No." Sophie let the word echo around her mind until she believed it. "The Neverseen need them alive."
"Who are the Neverseen?" her sister asked. "What do they want with Mom and Dad?"
"I wish I knew," Sophie admitted. "But they won't kill them."
At least not yet.
The Neverseen had been trying to control Sophie since they'd first learned she existed, so she was sure they'd use her parents as the worst sort of blackmail. But there had to be more to it. Otherwise they would've let her know the second they had their prisoners.
At least the Neverseen didn't know her sister heard them say they were going to Nightfall. All they had to do was find that door—and Sophie was pretty sure she knew how to do that.
She just wished it didn't involve trusting one of their enemies.
"I know what you're thinking," Keefe told her. "And I'm in. All the way."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Fitz said, pointing toward the windows, where the sky was fading to twilight. "First, we need to get out of here. They probably have someone watching this place, waiting for us to show up."
Sophie nodded to her sister. "Go pack a bag as quick as you can. You're coming with me."
"Uh, that's way too dangerous," Fitz warned. "If the Council found out—"
"They won't," Sophie interrupted. "As soon as we get back, I'll hail the Collective."
The Black Swan—the rebel organization that created Sophie—had an extensive network of secret hideouts. And they'd always come through when Sophie needed their help.
Then again, that was before Mr. Forkle was . . .
This time, she couldn't stop her brain from finishing the sentence with "murdered."
She pressed her palm over her chest, feeling for the new locket under her tunic, which held the last task Mr. Forkle had entrusted her with before he took his final breaths.
When an elf passed away, they coiled their DNA around a Wanderling seed and planted it in a special forest. But Mr. Forkle had asked Sophie to hold on to his seed, claiming she'd somehow know when and where to do the planting. He'd also asked that his body be removed from the rubble before anyone saw it, which meant only a handful of people knew he'd been killed. But the rest of their world would find out soon enough. The Council had extended Foxfire's midterm break in light of the tragedy in Lumenaria—but school was scheduled to restart in less than two weeks. And one of Mr. Forkle's secret alter egos had been principal of the academy.
Keefe moved closer, leaning in to whisper, "I'll take care of your sister, Foster. The place I'm crashing in is small—and it smells like sasquatch breath mixed with rotting toenails. But I guarantee no one will find us."
Keefe had been living on the run ever since he'd fled the Neverseen—and his offer wasn't a horrible suggestion. But Sophie wasn't letting her sister out of her sight.
"She's coming with me to Havenfield. We'll figure out the rest once we get there."
"Uh, I'm not going anywhere with a bunch of strangers," her sister informed them.
The last word stung more than Sophie wanted to admit, but she did her best to shrug it off. "Do you really think you're safe here? Even if the Neverseen don't come back, the police might. Do you want to end up in foster care?"
Her sister bit her lip, leaving indentations in the soft flesh. "What about Marty and Watson? Who's going to feed them?"
Sophie's eyes prickled. "You still have Marty?"
The fluffy gray cat used to sleep on her pillow every night, and it had broken her heart to leave him behind. But she'd figured her family would need him. And Watson must've been the dog she'd heard barking when they'd first arrived. Sophie had asked the elves to move her family somewhere with a yard big enough to allow them to finally get the puppy her sister had always wanted.
"I guess we'll bring them with us," Sophie decided. "Get Watson on a leash and put Marty in his carrier."
"Okay, seriously, we can't do this," Fitz said, reaching for Sophie's hands to force her to listen to him. "You don't understand how dangerous this is."
"It'll be fine," Sophie insisted. "The Black Swan will keep her hidden."
"The Black Swan," her sister whispered. "Wait. I think . . . I think they said something about that. Everything was happening so fast, it's hard to remember. But I think one of them said, 'Let's figure out why the Black Swan chose them.'?"
Sophie shared another look with her friends.
"I take it you guys know what that means?" her sister asked.
"It . . . might be about me," Sophie said. "It's part of that long story I have to tell you—but we should get out of here first."
She tried to reach for her home crystal, but Fitz wouldn't let go of her hands.
"You're not understanding what I'm saying," he told her. "Do you have any idea how risky it is to light leap with a human?"
He'd kept his voice low, but her sister still snapped, "What do you mean a human?"
"Exactly what you think he means," a slightly deeper, even crisper voice said from the doorway.
Everyone whipped around to find the three others who'd insisted on joining Sophie, Keefe, and Fitz on this hastily planned—and highly illegal—excursion to the Forbidden Cities. Fitz's father, Alden, who looked like an older, more regal version of his son. And Sandor and Grizel, who instantly triggered a massive amount of screaming.
"It's okay," Sophie promised. "They're our bodyguards."
That only seemed to make her sister scream louder.
To be fair, both Sandor and Grizel were seven feet tall and gray, with flat noses and massive amounts of rock-hard muscle—plus gigantic black swords strapped at their sides.
"Wh-what are th-they?" her sister stammered.
"Goblins," Sandor said in his unexpectedly high-pitched, squeaky voice.
"And we mean you no harm," Grizel added in her huskier tone.
A hysterical laugh burbled from her sister's lips. "Goblins. Like from the bank in Harry Potter?"
Fitz grinned. "She sounds like Sophie did when I first told her she was an elf."
The word triggered another round of hysterical laughter.
"Okay, so two things," Keefe jumped in. "One: How is she understanding us? I just realized we've all been speaking the Enlightened Language, and she has too."
"I gave her—and her parents—a basic understanding of our language before we relocated them," Alden explained. "In case something like this ever happened. Communication can be a powerful weapon, and an essential defense."
"What is he talking about?" her sister shouted. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BRAIN?"
"That's the second thing," Keefe said, fanning his arm the way he always did when he was reading emotions through the air. "I'm betting your sister is about three minutes away from a meltdown of epic proportions."
"I'd wager it'll be sooner than that," Alden said through a sigh. "This is exactly the kind of worst-case scenario I hoped we'd never have to face. Fortunately, I came prepared."
"What are you doing?" Sophie asked, yanking her hands free from Fitz as Alden reached into the inner pocket of his long blue cape. She'd been afraid he'd pull out a vial of sedatives. But the round silver disk he tossed at her feet was much more terrifying.
Sophie had used the same gadget the day she'd drugged her family so the elves could erase her. And as the world spun to a blur, she realized she should've held her breath the second the disk hit the floor.
"Please," she begged when her sister collapsed. "She's going to need me. You can't erase me from her life again."
Keefe lunged to help Sophie, but only lasted a second before he went down. Fitz followed a second after that.
Sophie's knees gave out, but she crawled for her sister, pleading with Alden to change his plan. He'd always been so kind to her—a loyal, trustworthy advisor. Almost a father figure. But his face was sad and serious as he released the breath he'd been holding. "Don't fight the sedatives, Sophie. You can't beat them."
He said something else, but she couldn't understand him. Her ears were ringing, and the light kept dimming.
She hated this feeling—hated Alden for putting her through it. But she couldn't focus enough to rally any of her defenses.
"Please," she said again as her face sank against the carpet. "Please don't take my sister away from me. Not again."
Through her hazy eyes she saw Alden crouch beside her, his lips mouthing, I'm sorry.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
Nightfall (Keeper of the Lost Cities #6) 4.7 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 39 reviews.
I love reading her books and cant wait for it to come out!!! I will give it a real raiting when it comes out.
Im so excited for this book to come out i really cant wait!!!!!!
I have no words. *shoves book at random person* read it!!!
My child was so excited that we pre-ordered this book. This was a big mistake as now we will have to wait even longer to receive it. We are a week out from the publishing date and it has not even shipped yet. Whenever we have pre-ordered books from Amazon, they arrive within 24 hours of the release date. What a disappointment that we instead ordered here as it is at best going to be two weeks before we get it. It would have been easier to wait to get it in a store, or of course to go back to using Amazon, which we will do in the future. Calling customer service was also a waste of time. Here we are four days past the promised delivery and all they can say is that it has not shipped yet...and they do not know when it will but that we are also unable to cancel the order. This had been a horrible experience for me and my child.
This is the best series ever! And I'm so relieved that the story is still going on and on, keep on writing Mrs Messenger!!
I can't wait! I love this stuff!! I is like drugs...... Jk no, but i know this is going to take me in even more but who cares!! I just hope I can get this when it comes out! Oh, and Ihope you can read it too!!
It was a great book! One of my favorites. Only topped by the original keeper book, which is my very favorite. i read this book four times!!!!!!
. . . and Shannon TOLD ME she didn't like triangles.
I preordered this book in October. On the release date, a week before the expected delivery date, B&N refunds my order and emails me to say it will be canceled if I don't call right away. I called and gave my same payment info and was told I would receive a confirmation email. No confirmation email arrived and it still hadn't shipped 2 days later so I contacted B&N again. They could not say when it would ship or what the problem was. Contacted B&N again on 11/11 and was told their warehouse was restocked with this book on 11/10 but again no estimated date of shipping. Contacted them again on 11/13, the expected date of delivery, and was told it will be shipped within 24-72 hours and will be delivered 4-6 days after that. This is the first and last time I will ever preorder anything from B&N. Amazon has never failed me, and when they have, their customer service always makes it right.
We ordered this item in July. The order was simply cancelled. We did not receive the book. My daughter was hugely disappointed. After calling Barnes and Noble,I was first told the warehouse could not find the item. Then after speaking to a supervisor I was told "things happen". I asked whether someone could find out how many copies were printed and if we were simply too late and not enough items were printed. I was told no further information was available. This is really too bad. Not happy!!
The book was full of adventure, and plot twists that were impossible to predict, right until the cliffhanger (whyyyyy) at the very end.
Laughed, wept and fell even more in love with Keefe.
So far all of the books have been AMAZING, and I have absolute faith that Shannon Messenger will deliver. Messenger never ceases to create intricate characters and unexpected plot twists. I am excited to see what comes nezt for Sophie and the group.
Anonymous 18 days ago
Great, wonderful, terrific.
amazing characters and plot and setting
Nightfall is the best thing that ever happened to me, as were the rest of the books. So many layers and twists in the plot, so I always wanted to turn the page as quickly as possible to see what would happen next. The plot is just fantastic, and the characters are so real that you feel like you know them. It's also curse-free, which I was very grateful for. HIGHLY recommended.
Wow. This series is literally the best ever!
OdeaStevens1447 More than 1 year ago
This book was so amazing! love the action, love the heartwarming relationships...love KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES!
I LOVED IT SO MUCH SHANNON I LOVE YOU!!!
How could you, Shannon Messanger? Thanks to you I am sitting around all day staring at my calendar waiting for November 16th to come around the corner. That cliffhanger made me scream at a wall for an hour strait! And I can't go to sleep now because I am up late imaginging different scenarios that might end up in the 7th book. I guess what I am trying to say is that I will always love you for creating my favorite escape, but I am mad at you for making me stay in reality for another 2 whole months. Your biggest fan in the world, Anonymous.
Ok. Please forgive me for asking this, but.... Kophie Sophitz Dexphie or Sam?
I cant wait until Flashback!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
We now know that Dex isn't the one, but Keefe and Fitz are still in the running. Team Keefe Foster is a power couple. Fitzphie is the perfectly unperfect expected storybook ending. Whatever Shannon chooses will definitely be interesting, hopefully the series continues into their young adulthood and weddings(especially Sophie). So excited for Flashback :)
Sooooooooo good I couldn't put it down
It's so good! I love the action, adventure and all the fantasy! I would reccomend this this book to anyone! Keep on writing Shannon!
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text:
127-110th episode collaboration project
Fortieth district.
It's a high-class salon where aristocratic ladies gather every day,......, well, it's a coffee shop,......, but you know, luxury,......, I had come with Jeannette.
'You look wonderful, Mr. Yashiro.
I'm sure you'll agree. The ...... face is close.
I told her I could do it myself, but she said, 'At least this one,' and happily wrapped it around me.
I'm now wearing a "chef" outfit. I made it myself to look like the kind of chef you often see at teppanyaki restaurants.
If I'm going to be standing next to Pompeo, I need to look the part. You also need to be able to convince the ladies.
'It's quite a look, isn't it?
Pompeo, who is still dressed in his chef's uniform today, smiles at me when he sees my outfit.
'But I can't deny that I still feel like I'm wearing a costume. You should quickly become a man who can wear a costume like me.
'''Yikes!Mr. Pompeo, you're beautiful!
A yellow voice came from behind the special kitchen.
These are the regular customers of Luxury who have been invited to today's special show. Apparently there are twenty of them.
Pompeo raises one hand to them. Every time he did, yellow voices flew.
Then he gave them a wink like, 'What? A wink from Pompeo ...... is annoying.
...... He's always been so stubborn, you know.
Now we are standing in a special kitchen set up in the luxury store.
The tables have been removed and a simple, yet functional and artistic kitchen set up has been set up in a space that takes up a third of the restaurant.
This is where I'll be cooking with Pompeo today.
Co-performance. It's a production, an act. A demonstration would be better.
I'm going to do the "cooking for show" that I've sometimes seen on TV, here at Luxury, in front of the ladies who patronize Luxury.
Due to a number of conflicts, the restaurant is thought to be the one that made cakes popular in the 42nd district. In fact, we're the only place where the obnoxious customers show up. ......
It's a great way to make sure you're getting the most out of your vacation. ............ I'm exhausted just lifting that thing.
Anyway, the plan is that the restaurants of the 42nd district, represented by the Sunlit Pavilion, will show that they are on friendly terms with Luxury, and that they are engaged in friendly competition with each other, so as to mitigate the ill will of the ladies.
In order to do so, it would be best if we were to borrow their breasts. The ladies will be satisfied if we make them think that we have learned from Pompeo and can finally make a reasonable cake .......
And eventually, they will support you if they think, 'Oh, the new guy from that time, he's doing well these days.
Humble ...... humble ............ humble ...... humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ humble ............ I'll play the part of a humble man.
'Have a nice day.
'Sure. As a top chef, it's only natural to lend a helping hand to newcomers. Well, go ahead and hit them with all your might.
'''Yikes!Mr. Pompeo, you're awesome!
Oh, ......, I want to punch you.
''Mr. Yashiro. Your face is scary.''
Ginette said, pinching my cheek.
What?Is it okay to say, 'This guy did it' and hit him back?
I think I'm going to go crazy and pinch her breasts instead of her cheeks. ......
'By the way, I'm Ginette, the head of the Sunlit Pavilion and a first-class chef.
'Wow, I can't believe I'm top-notch. ......'
'I heard that a top chef lends his chest to a newcomer.
'You'll have to repent.
Perhaps because it was someone else's store, her voice was more subdued than usual.
Instead, I was poked on the bridge of my nose by a ginette with a raised eyebrow.
What's this, a reward? One more time, please.
'I hope you do well today.
Finally, straightening her scarf, Ginette returned to her reserved seat in the audience.
The only person on my side is Jeannette. ...... It's away from home.
But it's nothing to worry about. The regular ladies are not the judges.
In fact, it's easier to turn their feelings around if they look down on us.
My goal this time is to dispel the feeling of 'I don't like you somehow' directed at the Sunlit Pavilion.
'I'll do my best at random'.
I'll do my best to ............ appropriately.
'I've prepared top-notch ingredients here. Are you sure you used the same materials?'
'Yes. We use the same ingredients to make completely different sweets. I'm going to make two different kinds of sweets for today's guests.
A pile of colorful fruits piled up in front of the special kitchen.
Even though they are top-notch, after all, they are purchased through Assunto, so they are available at the Sunlit Pavilion as well. ...... Just because Pompeo says they are top-notch, they will be perceived as the finest sweetness by those ladies' taste buds. I'll leave it at that.
This time, I'm going to take full advantage of the characteristics of Pompeo, who is easily seduced, and the self-proclaimed well-informed, who are easily influenced.
If I can coax Pompeo into saying that the cake I'm making is 'wonderful', the ladies who are enamored with Pompeo will chant 'Yes, it's wonderful'.
Well, it's like phone shopping. If you can make your target think, 'Oh, so that's what it is,' you've succeeded.
It is easy to lose weight just by adding ○.
If you eat ________, you will not get cancer.
Many people may have believed such a statement.
Word of mouth and assumptions are not foolproof.
'Well. Today, I'd like to show you, our loyal customers, our new luxury cakes and the process of making them.
'''Yikes!'''
''However, a cake takes a lot of time and effort to make. In the meantime, please relax and enjoy our delicious tea and simple sweets.
The ladies are so friendly to Pompeo that I think it's a setup.
That makes it easy for me.
Pompeo was not exactly friendly to me, but once he got into it, his pride as a professional would not let him down. I'm sure he'll come up with something good.
In order to deal with the malice that has entered the Sunlit Pavilion, I came here yesterday and approached Pompeo about this project.
At first, he was fiercely opposed to the idea, saying, 'It's outrageous that you should show your customers how you cook,' but when I told him that Umaro was going to build a special kitchen 'just for this occasion,' he flipped his hand and said, 'Then let's do it! He agreed.
'Oh, the height of the ...... cooking table is perfect, and the kitchen ...... workmanship is beautiful and ...... awesome.
I feel like I'm swooning uncomfortably next to it. ...... I'm about to slide my cheek against the kitchen table.
When this is over, we'll tear it down. ...... He's not going to go crazy, is he?
And the ladies who are regulars ...... were very easy to collect.
I gave invitations to the customers who visited the store yesterday.
"To our special guests. An invitation from Pompeo.
The ladies jumped at the chance, and even though it was yesterday, and early in the morning, not a single one of them was absent.
The ladies who fished with magda, who fished with umalo, who fished with Pompeo.
This is how the world goes round, isn't it?
And so, the cooking demonstration show, "The Artisan of Cakes in Luxury," took place.
Tea and small baked goods were served to the audience by the unsympathetic staff of Luxury.
...... Oh, those baked goods, they're supposed to be cakes? I thought it was dry bread.
After taking a sip of the tea, Ginette's movements stopped for a moment. She raised her eyebrows in annoyance ...... and gently placed the cup back on the saucer. Yes, I understand. The tea here is thin, but it's astringent. You seem to think that's what makes it "luxurious". ......
That's right. I found out the other day that the shopkeepers here are unfriendly because "if they flatter the customers, they will think that the store is in a lower position than the customers," so they do it on purpose.
...... Huh, there are many different ways of thinking about customer service. And this store is succeeding in doing so. ......
'Let's get started.
Let's do it.
Luxury is temporarily closed until the show is over.
Well, I've heard that not many people come this early in the morning, so it won't be too much of a problem, but I've brought Jeannette with me. It's better to finish early and go home.
Pompeo is going to make the fruit tart that I taught him the other day. I was going to tell him about it after the whole mess was over, but he insisted, and it was so annoying that I had no choice but to tell him. ...... What's with the new luxury menu? It's already on the menu at the Sundaily Pavilion.
But Pompeo is not a man of words.
Although the self-proclaimed "cake" that I ate here for the first time was a bit of a mess, Pompeo was a man of proven ability and taste who deserved to be called a top-notch chef. As proof of this, he handled delicate decorations without difficulty and even arranged them in a beautiful way.
Moreover, she never neglected her efforts to master what she learned.
After being taught the fruit tart, she practiced and studied it for three days and three nights without sleeping, and now she has completely made it her own. The fact that he has a fan base does not mean that he is not good at it.
If you're ......, you should also look into tea and other things.
You're good at sublimating what you already have, but you seem to be really bad at creating something that hasn't been seen yet. He is a craftsman who will become amazingly good if I teach him many things. I'm not going to tell you .......
'So, what are you going to make?
Pompeo peers at my hand with interest.
...... What are you trying to steal? ...... I haven't made anything yet.
'This time, I'm ......'.
Shifting my gaze from Pompeo to the audience, I declare.
'I'm going to make pudding a la mode.
The name, which I had never heard before, caused a slight buzz.
But the ladies in the audience are only interested in Pompeo's new cake. My story seems to have been quickly dismissed from their minds.
Ginette and Pompeo stare at me.
Only people who know ...... are paying attention to me, which is a pretty cool situation. This is the kind of development that burns.
It's good to make a cake together and show that you have a good relationship, but if you make the same cake, there will be a tendency to make it inferior. That is not good.
On the other hand, if the products are completely different, it will be difficult to get people to have a certain level of interest in them. I guess you could say that I'm like the person who is not interested in the ...... tying product.
It is difficult to get people to be interested in it and not be able to compare it.
As a result, I came to the conclusion to make something different with the same ingredients.
Ordinary pudding is too weak, so I decided to make pudding a la mode. This way, I could use fruit.
If you make thin cookies with the same dough as the tart, and insert them in place of the wafers, you can make it with almost the same ingredients. Wafers can't be made here. The ingredients are different.
Instead, I'm gonna make you pretty heart-shaped thin cookies. You like that, don't you, ladies?
Let's start cooking!
I picked up the flour and was about to make the thin baked cookies when ......
'Jeez, ............'.
I was so close to him that Pompeo was attached to me.
You should make some too!Don't just watch me work!
'...... (I'll teach you later!)'
' (I swear!If you lie to me, I'll give you a thousand frogs!
' (I'm scared!I'm scared!
With these ominous words, Pompeo returned to his space.
The special kitchen is a wide angled 'eight' shaped kitchen, and is designed so that people can cook side by side.
You can watch us work up close as long as you don't disturb the ladies.
...... Well, the ladies seem to be preoccupied with Pompeo.
'Yashiro-san. Good luck with that.'
I've got one Ginette in front of me.
It's okay. I'm all about quality over quantity.
Besides, Ginette has the biggest tits of all of us.
'I swear to you that I'll make the best pudding, plump plump.
'Who's the plump one, d*mn it!
Ginette puffs out her cheeks as she holds her breasts.
Oh, I'll calm down. It's not the ............ s*xual harassment, you know?
'Your knife work is very artistic.
'Well, look how beautiful the fruit is cut.'
'Oh, it smells so good ...... I can't stand it.
Over there, the ladies are chatting away.
This is a great event for fans. If you hold this event on a regular basis, you'll have a steady stream of customers. You can have it, you know. I'm not going to do it because it's too much trouble.
'I see. ...... So you strain it three times with a fine colander. ......'
Ginette is staring at my work, mumbling to herself as she explains the process.
No,......, I'll teach you when I get home.
I, of course, and Pompeo proceeded without a hitch. Wow. You're very clever. That's a chef who owns a top restaurant. If it's just skill, he's probably better than me. Yeah, he's no match for me.
Though I'm sure Jeannette, not me, would be just as good.
'Ah, Yashiro-san. It's better to keep the white streaks on the orange for a better mouthfeel when you eat it.
'Huh?Oh, this? I see.'
As Ginette pointed out, I cleaned off the white stripes from the orange bunch with a knife. I'm impressed with Jeannette for taking into account the texture of the oranges.
Although it took a lot of time to bake and let the oranges rest, the time passed peacefully from start to finish.
The ladies listened in rapt attention to Pompeo's poetry, the ladies laughed at a gag I interrupted from the side, and then glared at me. ...... While all this was going on, both of our sweets were nearing completion.
'Well, ......'.
I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but I'm sure you've heard of it.
She had just taken the pudding out of the mold.
'It's a lovely, puffy ...... cake.'
It's not a cake, though. It's not a cake, but denying it would only make a bad impression. If the lady says it's a cake, then it's a cake. I don't have any strong beliefs about pudding that I can't compromise.
'This is the pudding. Isn't it an easy name to understand?
'Yeah, sure.'
The young lady chuckled.
I guess being in the same space for a few hours has made her less wary of me.
This was my aim.
The most effective way to eliminate the unseen malice of "I don't like you somehow" is to let people know who you are.
Reveal yourself.
By exposing your bad parts and inadequacies without pretense or excuses, the other person will be less wary of you.
However, there is no need to be humble. ...... Well, it's easier to be accepted if you start from the bottom, that's for sure. But if you're too humble, you'll end up with a weird hierarchical relationship, and that's not good.
I'm here to borrow your chest, Pompeo. It would be better to start with something like, "I'm here to ask Pompeo for his chest, and I'm not that big of a deal.
People are less likely to be antagonized by someone who makes no excuses.
It makes you look shallow if you keep accusing fair-minded people.
After that, the more conversations you have, the more the rancor will fade away.
In business, it is often said, "The more difficult your boss is, the more you should take the initiative to greet him. Even if it's just a greeting, if you keep talking to your boss, it will diminish the awkwardness.
For example, suppose you make a mistake and are severely reprimanded by your boss. In such a case, it is effective to go and apologize again after an hour or so has passed.
Even if you are afraid to approach the person with an irritating aura, you can approach him or her and say, "I'm sorry about earlier. I will be more careful in the future. I'll be careful in the future and ask for your continued guidance and encouragement.' ...... You don't have to go this far, but you should at least tell your boss that you will do your best from now on.
If you do this, your boss will be in a much better mood. Even if there is no change on that day, the next day or later, his mood will certainly improve.
Human beings are very simple.
In short, the true nature of "I don't like something" is "dissatisfaction with the fact that things are not going as I want. And the person at the center of it is perceived as "a hateful enemy who opposes you.
However, if that "hateful enemy" shows a friendly attitude toward you, ......?
It is true that you may not be getting what you want, but what if the other side came to you with a sincere explanation that there is a reason for it?
It's difficult to maintain the feeling of 'I don't like it somehow' until they do that.
To sum it up roughly, "I don't like it because I don't know it well.
It is said that the degree to which we can tolerate the same noise made by our neighbors differs greatly between neighbors with whom we greet each other on a regular basis and neighbors whose names and faces we do not know.
The faults of a stranger may be unpleasant to the eyes, but the faults of a friend can be tolerated to a certain extent, and may even be considered attractive.
It is often a simple comment that turns a weakness into an advantage. There is a fine line between 'stinky' and 'generous'. There is a fine line between 'saver' and 'poor', 'friendless' and 'beautiful', 'slender' and 'flat-chested'. ......
In the current situation, if the "cloned cake baker who imitates luxury and sells cakes" changes to the "fledgling cake baker who aspires to be a luxury baker and works hard to be one," the ill will toward the sunny pavilion will disappear.
The correctness or incorrectness of the perception is not important at this point. Even if you claim that we are the originator, it will only arouse antipathy at present. Then, we will convince them with our strength.
If people find out later that 'Oh, the original shortcake was made at YODAMARI-TEI? That's fine.
After all, our manager is not aiming to be the number one.
Rather than such a title, he is looking for peace and tranquility where everyone can relax.
It's up to the individual to decide what's worthwhile and what's most precious.
I will bring back the sunny pavilion where Jeannette can smile.
If you want number one, I'll give you as much as you want.
''It's done!
Cheers went up around Pompeo.
It seems the fruit tart is complete.
''Wow, ...... is beautiful.''
I couldn't help but let out a gasp at the result. Yes, it's beautiful.
To be honest, I was surprised.
'Well, well. I'm a professional.
Pompeo said, somehow looking very happy.
His nose is twitching. Was he that happy to be praised by ...... me?
''This one is finished too.
''...... Well.''
Looking at the finished pudding a la mode, several young ladies let out words of admiration.
They put their hands on their cheeks and stare at it with enraptured eyes.
The plump pudding is served in a long, thin bowl. It is beautifully decorated with jewel-like fruits and filled with pure white whipped cream. A heart-shaped cookie is inserted into the pudding.
'Cute ......'.
'It's ......, isn't it?
The young lady, disregarding the fact that I made it, gives me a favorable impression.
Or perhaps she is no longer hostile to me.
'Yashiro-kun. Tell me, please. I promise!
'I told you it was ...... minutes.'
Pompeo is approaching rapidly.
Too close!
Also, why are you being so hostile to me?
What's with the 'Yashiro-kun'? You're the first person to call me by ...... name.
'Now, please eat.
Pompeo's words were met with cheers from the ladies.
We sat down at the table, and as soon as the cakes were brought out, I took a bite of Pompeo's fruit tart.
'It's delicious!
'The rich sweetness is ......'.
'Yet the refreshing sweetness of the fruit is ......'.
The ladies, who were experiencing custard cream for the first time, seemed to be impressed by the deep sweetness of the flavor.
In the midst of all this, only Jeannette was the first to take a bite of my pudding.
'............ wasshoi............ wasshoi,sir! ......'
...... So that's what you think.
But it's not the usual excited feeling, it's the kind of emotion that makes your eyes water a little. It seems that Ginette has hit the nail on the head.
'It's a new kind of sweetness that I've never had before. ......'
Jeannette must have known some cream puffs and custard creams, but the pudding seemed to be something else.
Hearing Jeannette's words, the ladies shifted their interest to the pudding.
'............ Well.'
'...... This is...'
'.................. delicious'
Although there is still a part of me that thinks, "It's just the 42nd district," it is significant that I was able to get him to say that he approves of this district.
Once you have been recognized, the thought that 'I have recognized you' comes into play in no small part. Once that happens, you may feel annoyed when someone says something bad about you, or you may feel a little happy when someone praises you. ...... By repeating such small changes, you may find yourself becoming a fan ....... I can't say that I don't.
'Well, you are a craftsman approved by Mr. Pompeo, aren't you?
'Yes, that's true. This level of quality is rather natural, isn't it?
'On the contrary, I'm relieved. If it were too bad, it would damage Pompeo-sama's name.
'That's true. This much is natural.
'Yes, it should be delicious.
And just like that, the evaluation of the cakes in the 42nd district of the Sun Goddess Pavilion was reassembled in the ladies' minds.
"Of course it's delicious.
It's a compliment from the top, but it's the greatest compliment of all. The fact that it is 'natural' means that it is already top-notch.
'To tell you the truth, I've been to the Sunlit Pavilion before.
'Well, you too?
'Yes, me too.
The person who was spreading ill will in the sunny pavilion was mixed in. ...... Should I have spit in his face?
I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.
'Indeed, the texture of that mille-crepe cake was interesting,......, and I would be happy to go back for more.
At these words, Ginette's expression brightened.
The customers, whose intentions she could not see, actually thought the cake was delicious. This fact lightened Jeannette's heart.
I'm glad I brought you here.
'When I came here, the store was filled with scary people. ...... I was too scared to go in, you know?
So some of you came when the place was occupied by ruffians. I'm sorry to hear that. They came all the way from far away.
'That's why I thought it was a place for people like that.
'When I went there, it was a nice, calm place with a nice atmosphere.
'Mr. Umaro designed this restaurant.
'Well, Mr. Torbek's construction company?That makes sense. ......'
'Wow, Umaro is popular among this kind of people, let's use .............
'Then I'd have to say those scary people are out of place.
'They appear everywhere, you know, those people. There's no point in worrying about them.'
'Yes, yes. It's best not to get involved.
'That's right.
And the girls repeat their whispered conversation in full view.
No matter where you are in the world, girls' gossip is scary. ...... I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it.
.................. Huh?
It's delicious, Yashiro!I'm not sure how you come up with cakes with such interesting textures.
I felt something tugging at me, and I tried to figure out what it was, but ...... the hot Pompeo grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me around, shaking my brain and stopping me from thinking.
'By the way, I heard that Yashiro loves women's breasts,............, right!This is based on that motif, isn't it!
I'm not!
I'm sure there's boob pudding and stuff, but!
I mean!See!The ladies' gazes are getting really cold!
I was just trying to improve my image!
Because of that idiot Pompeo, I was forced to feel very uncomfortable after that.
I'll have to postpone giving you the recipe for much longer. Reflect on that.
'I'll be back for more cake.
'Yes. Please come back. I'll be waiting for you!
That's what the young lady said to Jeannette as she was leaving.
Ginette bowed deeply with her usual bright smile.
It's those talkative ladies. The malice emanating from this will fade.
Riding in the carriage prepared by Pompeo, Ginette and I returned to District 42.
In the carriage on the way back, I pondered over the uneasiness I had felt earlier.
I had speculated that the noble ladies had hired a ragtag group to harass someone they didn't like for some reason. ............
"I was too scared to go in.
I was too scared to go in." "There's nothing to worry about.
It's best to stay out of it.
This is how the ladies evaluate the ruffians.
It is natural that they are not favorable to you. ...... Would those ladies ask for a job with someone they dislike so much?
You can find a lot of things that you can do to make your life easier.
In the event that you've got a problem, you'll be able to always contact your doctor.
Did someone ask the ragweed to do it on their own and the other ladies didn't know about it?
Those rumor-loving, cake united ladies with a certain amount of unity?
Some of them even came on the very same day and left without entering the store. ............
It's a bit tricky.
I'm not sure if it's really those ladies who sent the ragheads.
Are they ...... luxury-related people to begin with?
But there are other people who would benefit from interfering with the distribution of the cake: ............
'...... Mr. Ro. Yashiro-san!'
Shaking my shoulder, I come back from the sea of thoughts.
Jeannette was peering at me with an anxious look on her face.
'Um, Estella-san is at ......'
'Estella?'
I noticed that the carriage was parked in front of the mansion of the lord of the 42nd district.
Estella was standing outside the carriage, clinging to the window in an impatient manner.
'What is it, Estella?
Was she here waiting for us to return?
If you look at the large number of maids led by Natalia outside, they seem to have blocked the road and stopped the carriage.
'Yashiro, I'm in trouble!
I have a bad feeling about this again.
I have a bad feeling that the unseen malice that's been smoldering these days is about to reignite.
'The hunting guild has refused to cooperate.
'They said they can't cooperate with anything related to the construction of the city gates in the future!
The sun, which had been high in the sky, was now covered by thick clouds, and the sky looked like it was about to rain.
It was just before noon.
Aside from Jeannette, it looks like I can't go back to the sunny pavilion just yet. ......
'Estella, get in. We'll drop off Ginette at the Sunken Pavilion and go see Use on the way.
We told the coachman where we were going and headed for the Hunting Guild's 42nd district branch.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Irving Wladawsky-Berger: Do We Need to Go Through a Near-Death Experience in order to Successfully Reinvent Ourselves?
Do We Need to Go Through a Near-Death Experience in order to Successfully Reinvent Ourselves?
A few weeks ago I participated in the BIF-3 Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence, RI. BIF-3 is sponsored by the Business Innovation Factory, a community organization whose mission is to "explore business model innovation through a series of experiences designed to get ideas off of the white board and onto the ground as quickly and cost effectively as possible."
I was interviewed on-stage by Walt Mossberg, the renowned journalist whose Personal Technology column has appeared in the Wall Street Journal for sixteen years. Walt has received numerous awards for his writing. In fact, I was there this past summer when he received a Visionary Award from SD Forum, a Silicon Valley business and technology community, which every year honors industry leaders who have pioneered innovation and fostered the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Walt started out by asking me how IBM has changed the way we work with new research ideas, since, in his opinion, fifteen years ago or so little innovation was coming out from IBM compared to the present. IBM's transition over the last twenty years is something I have been reflecting on quite a bit recently, especially given my recent retirement from full-time responsibilities with the company, as well as the seminar I am teaching this semester at MIT.
Few companies survive the kind of near-death experience that IBM went through in the early 1990s. Fewer still not only survive but are able to transform their culture and re-invent themselves to the degree IBM has. IBM used to be the very model of an inward-looking company that pretty much built everything by itself based on proprietary technologies. This was a model that was appropriate for the early days of the computer industry, but by the late 1980s it had become fatally outmoded and almost caused the demise of IBM. After surviving its downfall, IBM has gone on to become a leader in open, market initiatives like the Internet, Linux and Service Oriented Architectures, with a culture almost diametrically opposite to its previous one.
Could these phases in IBM's existence be inexorably linked? Must a successful organizational re-invention be preceded by the kind of cataclysmic events that open up the mind to new experiences - essentially cleaning the brain from its previous inflexible views of life? The ancient Greeks certainly thought so, as reflected in their tragedies.
"Tragedy" - says the Wikipedia entry - "depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake. The hero need not die at the end, but he / she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods."
So, in reply to Walt's initial question, I told him that I believe that IBM's near-death experience was - in my opinion - an essential part of our successful transformation. We used to think that we were the marketplace - the kind of hubris that the gods in Mount Olympus will absolutely punish. Having invented RISC microprocessors and relational data bases in our research labs, as well as established the IBM PC as the leader in the marketplace, we let others reap the benefits of our work because we were making so much money from our proprietary mainframes, compared to the returns from these puny, emerging businesses. They don't call them tragic flaws for nothing.
Walt pointed out that Apple had recently gone through a similar change in fortunes, being 90 days from bankruptcy only a few years ago. And, just as IBM clutched the Internet like a lifeboat taking us into the new open, market-oriented world where we now live, Apple is using the iPod, iPhone and other digital consumer products to move into the future.
He then mentioned that at The D Conference, which he runs with partner Kara Swisher, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer had mentioned the need to move from the business model they had so successfully developed around desktop and enterprise software – both, in Walt's opinion, being gifts from IBM - into new positions that are key to its long term growth. The examples he cited were search and advertising to better compete with Google, and consumer electronics to better compete with Apple. So, Walt asked me, can Microsoft accomplish such a shift, not having gone through the organizational brain cleansing experiences IBM went through?
Excellent question. The reality is that I don't know. Perhaps Microsoft will prove to be the exception to the Greek Tragedy rule and will successfully move into the future with minimal pain and disruption. But, I said to Walter, I keep wondering how much damage they are doing to their own culture by so ferociously attacking Linux and OpenDocument format (ODF). I totally understand that they worry about the impact that Linux and ODF could have to their present business model. But, in my opinion, it is hard for your organization to embrace the future when you are circling the wagons against the inevitable forces of the marketplace. You send a message to your own people that you are strong enough to defy the common wisdom of markets, and you will move ahead - damn the torpedoes and the Greek gods.
In the end, we all see the world through our experiences, and painful experiences generally influence the mind far more than happy ones. I know that IBM's insular, proprietary culture had to be ditched before we were able to move ahead into the future. Part of what makes the study of organizations so interesting is to observe how different companies react to the marketplace forces that will inevitably derail their best laid plans, the many, very human mistakes they often make in reacting to the forces, as well as the great examples of true innovation that they sometimes display in their will to survive.
AAPL, HP, MSFT, and IBM did it and/or all doing it in different ways (as you may have noted above, though I didn't read it all).
Hi Irving - I'm not sure if you're aware, but you really hit a nerve at BIF-3 when you questioned whether any company can reinvent itself without having a near death experience.
I believe there's a fairly simple reason why business model innovation is an entrepreneur's game: more than process, innovation is a state of mind.
In our last session of BIF-3, Mark Cuban was asked by Walt Mossberg whether he agreed with your conclusion that companies must walk the death march before they can truly change. Cuban's response: "Absolutely, which is why I usually sell the company before it gets to that point."
Established companies are actually rather good at embracing change if it sustains their current business model and delivers an improved product for their customers. I think Clay Christensen summed it up best during his interview with Walt likening business model innovation to biological evolution: Populations evolve, even though individuals can't. The same thing happens in the corporate world, Clay said. "The population of business units within corporations evolves, even though individual business units can't. That's because the capabilities of business units reside in their processes and their values, and by their very nature, processes and values are inflexible and meant not to change."
The key, according to Christensen, is that companies must invest to create the new growth business while the core business is still growing, because new business units don't need to get big fast. But when the core business stops growing, investing to create new growth businesses becomes impossible. "Once a company's growth has stopped, the game as we have known it is over," he said.


text:
title: Рада директорів Node.js Foundation
layout: foundation.hbs
---

Рада директорів складається з представників від корпоративних учасників, представників Технічного виконавчого комітету (Technical Steering Committee (TSC)), та представників, що обираються окремими учасниками.

* Голова: **Danese Cooper**, шановний член технічного персоналу - open source в PayPal.
* Заступник голови: **Scott Hammond**, головний виконавчий директор (СTO) в Joyent.
* Директор TSC: **Rod Vagg**, директор стосовно node в NodeSource.
* Золотий директор: **Charlie Robbins**, директор з інженерії в GoDaddy.com.
* Срібний директор: **Brian McCallister**, головний виконавчий директор (СTO) платформ в Groupon.
* Директор: **Todd Moore**, заступник президента стосовно відкритих технологій в IBM.
* Директор: **Colleen Evans**, провідний програмний менеджер в Microsoft.
* Директор: **Rich Sharples**, старший директор з управління продуктами компанії Red Hat.
* Директор: **Imad Sousou**, заступник президента та генеральний менеджер в Intel.
* Директор: **Ashley Williams**, директор від індивідуальних членів.
* Директор: **Feross Aboukhadijeh**, директор від індивідуальних членів.

Незалежно від ради, технічний виконавчий комітет встановлює напрямок технічного розвитку проекту, включаючи релізи, стандарти якості, управління проектом, хостинг репозиторіїв на GitHub і тд. Rod Vagg є членом та представником Технічного виконавчого комітету у раді директорів.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A high energy, dynamic, variety performance of dance and musical theatre presented by the outstanding emerging talents of the Reynolds Performance Company.
Tickets are now on sale from the Box Office at Greenwich Theatre. Call 020 8858 7755.


Race Week London is to take place again year. In the build up to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Race Week brings motorsport to the heart of London. It's a great event for any F1 fan, with various goings-on, and F1 cars, drivers, and teams all joining in on the action.
It takes place on Tuesday 30th June (i.e. in the Tuesday before Silverstone's British Grand Prix) at the Honourable Artillery Company's stunning grounds in the City Of London.
And thanks to the kind people at GP Management who run Race Week London I have FIVE pairs of tickets for this year's Race Week London to be won. To have a chance of winning you just have to answer the simple question in the box below along with giving your name and email address.
Memorabilia and other luxury brands on display.
To enter the competition to win one of five pairs of tickets please give your email address (so we know who to send the tickets to!) and answer the very simple question.
For more information about Race Week London do check out its website here.


The holiday shopping season is in full swing. It started off with the bigger box stores, like K-mart, Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, opening up on Thanksgiving evening with their Black Friday sales and then continued through Cyber Monday. The Christmas shopping season is shortened this year and Christmas is soon approaching. However, you need a place to store all of your great holiday gifts and keep them away from the prying eyes of family members. Do you have enough room in your home to store larger items such as furniture, exercise equipment, bicycles or even large electronics? These larger gifts are harder to hide until Christmas Day. Some people store holiday gifts at nearby friends or relative's home (like my parents), while others try to hide Christmas presents from snooping family members. What if there was a place that you can hide the items and not worry about their safety and security until you are ready to deliver them on Christmas Day?
Self storage is a great option for storing holiday gifts that you do not have room for at your home. Many self storage operations have created holiday specials called "Santa's Closet" to give special discounts for renters over the holiday season. The specials are focused on the smaller sized storage units, 5×5, that are great places to store holiday gifts. Storage World is offering our own "Santa's Closet" special at our 3 facilities in the Atlanta area: Decatur/South DeKalb, Jonesboro/South Atlanta, and Stockbridge/McDonough. For the holidays, Storage World is offering rent on a 5×5 storage unit at half price. The rates vary per location. Stop in to your closest Storage World facility now to find out more information! Storage World offers month-by-month rental solutions, so you can store your gifts for the rest of the holiday season!
Happy Holidays from Storage World!


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Immigrant advocates rally against second travel ban, taxpayer-funded border wall
ENCINITAS, Calif. -- The massive protests that have swept the nation in response to President Trump's executive orders have encouraged local groups to protest.
Dozens of people gathered in Encinitas at Moonlight Beach Sunday to support immigrants and protest what they call anti-immigrant orders by the Trump administration.
Sunday's rally was organized by several local groups including Indivisible, MoveOn.Org and CAIR.
North County Islamic Foundation board member Mustafa Nizam helped organize the demonstration. He said as a Muslim man he is united with his Muslim brothers and sisters and other immigrant groups who have been discriminated against since the Trump administration took office.
"The thing is we're all one person. We're all one race. We're all human. There are things that we can come together on. Let's not focus on the things that divide us," said Nizam.
Those who gathered said the district's local lawmakers have done little in response to the travel ban and the GOP's support for a taxpayer-funded border wall.
Former Iraqi refugee Basma Alkhateeb fled Iraq with her daughters in 2014. She says the new travel ban on refugees is unnecessary because the vetting process is already extremely secure.
"We left friends, we left family, we left history, but we have it here. There's a future. There are options and its security is amazing," said Alkhateeb.
Alkhateeb and others at today's events will continue to fight what they call immigrant targeted executive orders, and hope their voices and this rally will send a message loud and clear to the White House.
"We believe in the principles of the United States. We believe in democracy. We believe in the law. We were not going to stand for a policy that is based on racism or biases that are not common to our United States," said protester Stephanie Bell.
1 burned in hash oil explosion
by Christy Simeral / Jan 15, 2021
SAN DIEGO -- One person was burned Friday morning in a hash oil explosion at a City Heights home.
The explosion was reported shortly after 8 a.m. at an apartment in the 3700 block of Marlborough Avenue, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Officials determined the explosion was the result of hash oil, a concentrated cannabis extract also known as honey oil. The department's Hazardous Materials team was called to the scene.
Sports / 2 hours ago