9 The Guild Strikes!   Bronson finds a hideout. Cindy and Bronson return to school. Sister Francine. The good guys get cornered in the magic shop.   Bronson stopped and sat on his trunk for a few minutes to catch his breath. He’d been lugging it around with him all day while he looked for somewhere to sleep. Every time he thought he’d found a safe place to set up

8 Andrus and the Guild of Thieves   Bronson gets a job. Cindy wakes up below City Hall. Andrus makes a speech to the guild. Cindy talks to her mom. Uncle Randolph does a mean thing.   Bronson was surprised Mr. Horum had let him behind the counter. He always thought there would be some sort of special pass or something you’d need to get behind the counter at a

7 The Cowboy in the Parking Garage   A vision in the parking garage. The Cowboy. Bronson writes a letter. Blaze gets grilled.   Bronson set everything he would need for that night’s patrol out in front of him: a pile of Wee Glimmers, some Necro-Fancy Flash Papers, a throwing knife, the cape, and his mask. He heard some footsteps out in the living room. The front door to the

6 Problems and Bigger Ones   Bugs makes out with Skyler. Bronson apologizes to Mr. Horum. Cindy interviews Mayor Lane. Randolph gives Bronson an ultimatum.   Bronson woke up to a slap in the face. “No sleeping in the lunchroom,” Cindy said. Bronson shook himself awake. Maybe late training sessions weren’t the best idea on school nights. Cindy poured her carton of chocolate milk over some charcoal Salisbury steak. The

5 The Old Curiosity Shop   Mr. Horum makes a bad first impression. Bronson stops a thief. Uncle Randolph counts his money. Dogboy practices on the roof until the sun comes up.   That afternoon Bronson took a bus to South 4th Street. He got off then looked around for #523. He’d spent his lunch period in the library looking for interesting places to go after school. When he found

4 Colta City Blues   Moving day. A meeting with Principal Kane. Cindy McNeil. Bronson helps in the AV room.   Bronson knew he was doomed the second he set foot in his uncle’s apartment, but he tried to be polite. “Interesting place, Uncle Randolph,” he said. The apartment was small. Two milk crates sat in the center of the main room. They were turned over with old pillows on

3 One Face for Another   The funeral. The lawyer’s office. Uncle Randolph. A discovery in the attic. Bronson says goodbye to the Tillman kid.   Bronson sat in a scratched wooden pew in a church he’d never set foot in before. Several women chatted in the pew next to him. His mom used to invite them over for wine and board games a few times a month. One of

2 Venture Beneath the Skies   Road trip. Into the woods. Bronson gets a key. A dog wakes Bronson up for a walk.   Bronson lugged a cooler down the front steps of the house. It only had some sandwiches, sodas, and ice but Bronson wasn’t that strong so it took some effort. He put the cooler down behind the car as his parents came out of the front door.

1 Fortune’s Fool ­ Bronson gets in a fight. His family plans a trip. Duncan packs his trunk. A stranger works on the family car.   Concrete isn’t a good material for a bed. It makes great roads, swimming pools, and nuclear power plants, but it doesn’t make a good bed. Somebody forgot to tell Bronson Black. He laid flat on his back in the middle of an outdoor basketball

10 Anchored and Sold on a Pillow of Stone   Hot John. Dogboy is captured. Osbert. Blaze takes the blame.   It was midnight, and outside Colta City General Hospital it was quiet. Erica Torres, a nurse at the hospital, was lingering outside a side door and enjoying the night air. She was on her fifteen minute “smoke break,” which is what she called it although she was one of