The Road to Nevermore Read Online Free PDF

He
     had collected souls before they were due, and hid them for his own dark purposes. Which is why he’d created Nevermore.
    How
he created the place was another matter.
    Years before Shadewick Gloom had been an exceptional student at Miss Spinetip’s School for Secrets-Keeping Skeletons. Any
     skeleton who is anyone studies there. Uncle Grim was one of Miss Spinetip’s stars. But no one could outshine Gloom’s ability
     in shadow stretching.
    Working with shadows has always been a specialty among skeletons. They discovered a way of opening shadows using skeleton
     keys. Then they stretched them to create secrets-closets—a handy way to hide from the living.
    Gloom really pushed the envelope when he discovered how to weave shadows together in an endless chain, using nightmares. He
     kept that bit of business to himself, though, as he stitched together every shadow in the Afterlife and created Nevermore.
    To get back and forth to his private world, he fabricated a spidery network of shadow tunnels. They could take him wherever
     he liked, so long as he remembered his key. There were only two of these extraordinary keys in the entire universe.
    But Gloom’s breakthrough left him with an unquenchable thirst for nightmares, and since then he hadn’t been shy about collecting
     them.
    This secret undertaking really took off after Commissioner Pickerel stumbled onto it. Soon, Nevermore became Pickerel’s favorite
     dumping ground. It was a convenient way to get rid of misfits while avoiding a complicated court system. Pickerel took great
     care to never let on he was working with Gloom—that would have been frowned on, indeed. Even on the Dark Side.
    When Grim found out about Nevermore, he raised the alarm. Shortly after, the High Council packed Shadewick off to the Dark
     Side. But there he flourished even more. The Council may have stripped him of his position, but they couldn’t take his ability.
     And he’d been gaining in strength ever since by mastering dark powers.
    In all his splendiferous Dark Side surroundings, Shadewick’s most prized possession was his bell jar collection. The glass
     domes contained the heads of his enemies. He displayed them proudly throughout his palace and loved examining them.
    That’s what Shadewick was doing when Hammer and Tongs rounded past him and then bounded down the hall. The shadow hounds were
     the size of Great Danes and black as dark intentions—the same shade as the robes shrouding Shadewick Gloom.
    “Curious,” he murmured, following after them, his murky cloak wafting behind.
    Just then, he heard Miss Chippendale shouting. “Ohhhh, you great lummoxes. Get off!”
    Shadewick entered the laboratory he affectionately called his “darkroom.” Miss Chippendale lay sprawled on the floor as the
     two beasts licked her with slobbering tongues. Despite her high rank, Miss Chippendale couldn’t wish herself into the Dark
     Side. Even if she had been able to, she didn’t fancy leaving a financial paper trail by spending a golden wish. Gloom’s web
     of shadowports was a cheaper way to travel, and a safer way of getting around the convoluted terrain of the Dark Side.

    “Off!” Gloom snapped. The hounds backed away, tails drooping as they cowered behind their master. He helped the temporary
     commissioner onto her feet. “Cornelia Chippendale. This is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
    She hastily rearranged her cloak. “A favor among professionals, Mr. Ambassador.”
    “Why so formal?” He glanced sideways at the twirling shadowport from which she had emerged and then back at his roundish guest.
     “You obviously feel comfortable enough to let yourself in. I gather you found Pickerel’s key amongst his private papers. Were
     you snooping?”
    Indeed Chippendale had been, the minute she suspected Pickerel was lost. She had also found many secrets along with the key.
     The kind of secrets one can use against one’s enemies. She tried to cover her blush