The Phoenix Thief

Do not let the Watchmen catch you.
Do not let the Chancellor find your notebook.
Do not let the man in the long coat know you're alive.

These are the rules Kilter has survived alone in the streets of the quarantined city of Istravol by for years. And he's tired of it. All he wants is to understand the cryptic marks inside the notebook he's had for as long as he can remember, and so get out. Because if the Chancellor who is scared of nothing but the Reavers outside the city wants that notebook, it must be worth something. At least, that's what old Dmal, Kilter's only friend, says. And he's right.

When both Dmal and the Chancellor stumble upon the first thing from his notebook that Kilter's ever seen in real life - a gleaming feather - the legends and secrets of Istravol's history come rushing into the present. It's not sickness that keeps Istravol, and Kilter, locked under the Chancellor's control, but a blood feud. A blood feud spurred by the legacy of the notebook and Kilter himself, and the force that could either destroy or restore it all: hope.

But will hope be enough to mend the past and save the future and a world Kilter never knew he belonged in? Armed with only the feather and notebook, he has only one chance to find out: catch it before anyone else does.

~~~

An exploration of courage, identity, love, and grief, THE PHOENIX THIEF is complete at 150,000 words, and readers seeking adventure and a dash of magic will find it a satisfying escape.