Silence and Stone by Kathleen Duey

Silence and Stone
    Â 
    Read all the books in the
Faeries’ Promise series:
    Following Magic
    Â 
The
Faeries’
Promise
    Silence and Stone
    BY KATHLEEN DUEY
    Illustrated by
SANDARA TANG

    Â 
    This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used
fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination,
and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
    ALADDIN
    An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin hardcover edition July 2010
Text copyright © 2010 by Kathleen Duey
Interior illustrations © 2010 by Sandara Tang
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered
trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. 
For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers
Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com .
Designed by Lisa Vega
The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond.
The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.
Manufactured in the United States of America
0510 FFG
2    4    6    8    10    9    7    5    3    1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duey, Kathleen.
Silence and stone / by Kathleen Duey ; illustrated by Sandara Tang. — 1st Aladdin hardcover ed.
p. cm. — (The faeries’ promise)
Summary: Kidnapped and confined to a room in a castle before she can develop her flying and
magical skills, Alida the faerie patiently plans her escape—with the help of a human boy.
ISBN 978-1-4169-8456-6
[1. Fairies—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction.] I. Tang, Sandara, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.D8694Sik 2010
[Fic]—dc22
 2009042542
ISBN 978-1-4424-1301-6 (eBook)
    Â 
    With love and thanks to Ellen Krieger,
    my editor and friend,
    for publishing my first book and so many more

Chapter
    1
    Alida sat on her blanket, her wings folded.
    The bed was far too big for her.
    It had been built for a grown-up human to sleep in.
    The old man had told her that.
    She didn’t know his name.
    She had no idea why he had lifted her out of her soft faerie’s-nest bed and brought her here so long ago.
    The wagon wheels had bumped over the rutted road.
    They had passed through two towns at night, the last one at the bottom of the hill below the castle. Both had been silent, the windows dark, everyone asleep.

    The man had been very careful not to hurt her or scare her on the journey.
    He had spoken quietly, kindly, as the horses galloped in the moonlight.
    He hadn’t told where he was taking her. But he had promised that no one would harm her.
    And he had been right—no one had.
    Alida remembered seeing the castle guards as the old man led her through the wide halls. But no one had so much as spoken an unkind word. No one had spoken to her at all.
    The old man had carried her up the long, twisting stairs into the tower.
    He had bent down to kiss her forehead, then he had gone, locking the door behind him. Alida had heard the heavy wooden bar slide into place. It had been dark—she couldn’t see how small the chamber was that first night.
    She had been frightened, but that had passed. She wished she had asked the old man whose castlethis was—which nobleman owned it. But she hadn’t thought of it until much later.
    Alida missed her family very much. At first she had cried almost every day. But she knew that weeping