The Boys Are Back in Town (41 page)

His fingers closed on something rough and heavy and unpleasantly warm and he flinched away from it, trying to peer through the darkness of the crawlspace. It was real. For a long moment he held his breath and then, cautiously, he reached into the shadows again and slowly withdrew the book. Its cover was slightly battered, a deep burgundy leather, but with a texture that was like nothing he had ever felt.

Kyle opened it, face flushed, pulse going rapid fire, and he flipped the first few pages until he found the title.

Dark Gifts.

A slow smile crept across his face as he rose and carried the book, which was so much heavier than it seemed it should have been, upstairs to his room.

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the award-winning,
Los Angeles
Times
bestselling author of such novels as
Of Saints and Shadows, The Ferryman, Strangewood, The Gathering Dark,
and the Body of Evidence series of teen thrillers. Working with actress/writer/director Amber Benson, he cocreated and cowrote
Ghosts of Albion,
an animated supernatural drama for BBC online.

Golden has also written or cowritten several books and comic books related to the TV series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
and
Angel,
as well as the scripts for two
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
video games. His recent comic book work includes the creator-owned
Nevermore
and DC Comics'
Doctor Fate: The Curse.

As a pop-culture journalist, he was the editor of the Bram Stoker Award–winning book of criticism
CUT!: Horror Writers on Horror Film,
and coauthor of
The Stephen King Universe.

Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. He graduated from Tufts University. There are more than eight million copies of his books in print. Please visit him at
www.christophergolden.com
.

ALSO BY CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN

The Ferryman

Straight on 'Til Morning

Strangewood

THE SHADOW SAGA:

Of Saints and Shadows

Angel Souls and Devil Hearts

Of Masques and Martyrs

The Gathering Dark

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN
A Bantam Spectra Book / February 2004

Published by
Bantam Dell
a division of
Random House, Inc.
New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by Christopher Golden

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

Bantam Books is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Spectra and the portrayal of a boxed “S” are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Visit our website at
www.bantamdell.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Golden, Christopher.
The boys are back in town / Christopher Golden.
p.         cm.
I.         Title.

PS3557.O35927B69 2004
813'.54—dc22
2003062216

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 978-0-553-89882-8

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