The Dark Lord's Daughter

Chapter 1


So You Are a Potential Dark Lord


According to popular belief, the ability to utilize Dark magic can erupt anywhere, at any time, in anyone. In practice, Dark power is nearly always inherited, though sometimes from a remote ancestor.

--Introduction to The Dark Traditions


The long line moved slowly across the bus parking lot toward the entrance gates of the State Fair. Halfway up the line, fourteen-year-old Kayla Jones scowled absently at a spot where the green glitter nail polish had slopped over the side of her fingernail. She d been hoping to come to the State Fair with someone besides family this year, but Madison and her other friends had lost touch when Kayla s family moved to the apartment, and she hadn t made new ones yet.

Besides, the fair had been a Jones family tradition as far back as Kayla could remember, and family traditions had kept them going for the last four years. Mostly small ones, like Saturday-morning pancakes and the weekly visit to the park by Lake Nokomis, but Rikita Jones managed at least one big event every three or four months, no matter how dire their other circumstances. So here they were: Kayla, with her adoptive mother and brother, standing in line at nine in the morning.

You could at least have let us sleep late, she muttered at Riki s back.

What? Riki started to turn, then paused. No, Del, we re not stopping at the cookie barn first thing. It s too early, and you re wired enough without adding sugar.

Can I get a turkey leg, then? Del begged. Or the roast corn? Those are healthy. Or no, I want the deep-fried alligator on a stick!

You just had breakfast! Riki said in tones of despair. How can you want more food already?

You only want the alligator because you think it sounds neat, Kayla told her younger brother.

Del gave her a wide-eyed look and bounced on the heels of his running shoes with ten-year-old energy. So? That s why they bring it up here to sell, isn t it?

Patricia C. Wrede is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. She wrote the beloved Enchanted Forest Chronicles series as well as the Mairelon series, Thirteenth Child, and, with Caroline Stevermer, the Cecelia and Kate series. She lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Find her online at pcwrede.com.

"An amusing story of finding one s place amid the unfamiliar. Its fantasy-world-incompatible technology-turned-familiars are particularly memorable." Publishers Weekly

"A fresh, engaging fantasy." Booklist