The Phantom of
New York, volume 1 - Peter and the Crown
by A.L. Janney
Genre: MG/YA Adventure
Release Date: December 2017
Summary:
by A.L. Janney
Genre: MG/YA Adventure
Release Date: December 2017
Summary:
'This is a story about vigilantes and magic.
About prophecy and hope.
About a boy and his hotel.
When twelve-year-old Peter Constantine wakes up in the Crown Hotel
with a new identity, life is over as he knows it. But perhaps that’s not such a
bad thing…
A dangerous man Peter only knows as “The Client” is after his
family, so they’ve relocated to New York City. With help from unlikely friends
living at the glamorous hotel, including the ghost on the tenth floor, Peter's
new life begins. Soon, however, he learns of a plot to destroy his new home, a
plot only the Phantom can foil.
Peter and the Crown is the first book in the Phantom of New York series, an
adventure for readers aged ten and up. If you like smart, funny characters and
“can’t put it down” escapades, then you’ll love Alan Janney’s Phantom of New
York series.'
The
wild and extraordinary tale of The Phantom, New York’s most infamous vigilante,
begins anew with a twelve-year-old boy waking up inside a magnificent hotel.
-Darci Drake
New
York Times
Chapter
One - Peter’s New Home
Peter
Constantine did not know he was moving to the Crown Hotel, not even on the
night his mother woke him from a sound sleep and told him they had to leave. He
stumbled from his twin bed and rubbed his bleary eyes as his mother dropped a
heavy backpack onto his shoulders. It couldn’t be morning yet—he was too
exhausted. His mother and father loaded two yellow taxi cabs with a dozen
suitcases and duffle bags and set Peter between themselves in the back seat. The
over-burdened taxis pulled away from their home in New Jersey and Peter
returned to sleep, unaware he’d never see his house again.
He
did not wake when, two hours later, his parents unloaded their luggage at a gas
station and waited shivering until two police cars arrived. A
kind officer carefully guided a sleepy Peter into the backseat. Again his
mother and father loaded luggage and climbed in next to him, and off the police
cars went, driving over the George Washington Bridge and plunging into the
looming skyline of New York City.
“It’s
not fair,” Peter’s mother said. “He didn’t get to say goodbye to his friends.”
“Nothing
about this is fair.” Peter’s father yawned so big his jaw cracked. “But at
least we’re safe.”
His
mother tried not to cry. Peter murmured in his sleep, something about
Batman, and shifted into a more comfortable position.
This
late, the Crown Hotel was quiet. The two police cruisers
parked under a vast red awning and the officers helped the Constantine family
haul suitcases through the lobby, up one flight of stairs, and into a small
apartment. Peter, who had never fully woken up, was placed onto a bed by his
father and tucked in by his mother. The police officer shook his father’s hand
and said, “They won’t find you here. Your family is safe.”
“I
think you’re right. At least for a while.”
“Do
you need anything else?” the officer asked.
“No. Thank
you. You’ve been very good.”
“Are
you sure? This is the last time you’ll see us.”
“I
know. It’s for the best. Goodnight, officers.” His father closed the door
behind them and stayed there for a full sixty seconds, eyes shut, and that was
how Peter’s new life at the Crown began.
 |
Peter
woke the following morning and knew immediately something had changed. The
pillow smelled funny and his cat Mr. Hippo wasn’t resting on his feet. He sat
up and blinked. This room had no window. Where had his window gone? And his
Justice League posters?
“Mom?”
Peter set his feet down on the cold floor, except it wasn’t cold. This floor
was carpeted, thick luxurious stuff that swallowed his toes. “Wow, oh my gosh.”
Peter’s
mother, a pretty and dark-eyed woman named Jovanna, opened the door and hurried
in. Her long brown hair was gathered into a bun.
“Yes,
sweetheart, I’m here. Everything is okay. Quite a shock, I know, because this
isn’t your bedroom, is it.”
“What’s
going on? Where are we?” Peter asked curiously.
“We’re
at a hotel.”
“At a
hotel? We don’t go to hotels. Which hotel?”
“This
hotel is called the Crown,” she said. She fussed with his thick black hair,
something she did which Peter didn’t like but he was too stunned to pull away. “We
came here in the middle of the night.”
“The
middle of the night. Why?”
Peter’s
mother hesitated. Her face held a pained expression that Peter wasn’t used to,
and it made him nervous. “Let’s eat breakfast first. And if your father hasn’t
returned by then, I’ll explain.”
“Where’d
he go?”
“To
work.”
Peter
nodded.
This piece of information, finally, made sense. His father always went to work
in the morning, at the accounting firm. Peter found fresh socks in the duffle bag
beside his bed and followed his mother into the kitchen. This was a clean
hotel, much cleaner than his house which had cat hair and Star Wars action
figures in every corner. The carpet felt spongy and the walls looked washed and
the kitchen was a brilliant white color. He sat at the small table near the
kitchen and his mother brought him pancakes and syrup and orange juice. She sat
down, clutched her blue robe tight, and watched him eat.
“Thank
you,” Peter said.
“Isn’t
this a pleasant hotel room?”
“I think
this is the nicest place I’ve ever been! Look how shiny the refrigerator is.”
Peter’s
mother didn’t respond and she continued making the sad face.
He
asked, “Is
there a window I can look out?”
“No,
sweetheart…well, there’s one window in our bedroom but it must remain closed
except in the case of an emergency. And
it has no view, only of a wall.”
“Are
we on a vacation? What about school?”
“I
wish your father was here, so we could talk about this as a family,” she said. “But.
I don’t know when he’ll return.”
“Talk
about what?” Peter’s enthusiasm over the fancy hotel room dimmed. He set down
his fork because his appetite had suddenly vanished. “Mom. Tell me.”
“Let’s
wait.”
“Now.
Please?”
“Your
father got a new job. He started today.”
“Oh. Okay,
well, that’s not so bad. But why are we in a hotel?” Peter picked his fork up
and ate another bite of pancake.
Jovanna
said, “Because
he works here now.”
“Dad
works at a hotel? That’s so great!”
“Do
you think?” she asked. “I’m glad to hear it. It’s one of the nicest hotels in
the city. Very prestigious.”
“I
can tell. That television is bigger than ours and even the bedrooms have
carpet. Do we get cable?”
“I
believe so,” she said.
“Wow!
Cable television. We’ve never had cable.”
A
telephone rang in the kitchen. It sounded different than Peter’s old
phone, which rang with harsh clanging. This telephone kind of beeped like a
spaceship, and it had a shorter cord. Jovanna answered and said, “Hello? Yes.” She paused to listen. “Oh goodness, I’m sorry
to hear that. He’s not here right now, but I’m making a note and he’ll see it
as soon as he returns. …Yes, he’s the new super. I’ve written your instructions
down. …Yes, I promise he’ll see it. Thank you.” She hung up.
“Who
was that? And Dad is a super?” Peter asked, and his eyes boggled. He didn’t
know what a super was, but it couldn’t be bad. Only good things started with
the word super. Superman. Superhero. Supernatural. Super Bowl. “What’s a super?”
“That
was a lady who lives upstairs. She needs help with her sink. And the word
super, in this case, is short for superintendent.”
“What’s
a superintendent?” Peter asked.
“It
means he helps the residents of the Crown if they need it. Like with sinks.”
“Like
a handyman?”
“Yes.”
“Dad
can do that?” Peter finished the orange juice with a big gulp, and he wiped his
mouth with the back of his hand.
“Of
course. Your father is very handy.”
“But
he’s a banker or something like that.”
“Yes,
um…” She clutched her robe again and sat down. “Yes. But. Not at the moment. He’s
going to be a super for a while. And. Well. We’ll live here.”
Peter
gaped at his mom, bewildered. Those words didn’t make sense. People
cannot live two places, everyone knew that. And Peter’s family already had a
house, in a neighborhood with a playground.
“I
don’t understand,” he said suspiciously. “People don’t live at hotels.”
“Some
do.”
“But
not us! Who on earth lives in a hotel?”
“This
hotel is special. Some people who work at the Crown also live here. Like us. This
entire floor of the hotel is full of live-in workers.”
“We
can’t live at a hotel. We have a house!”
“Yes,
but didn’t you think it was too small?”
“So? It
was ours!”
“Look
how perfect everything is, sweetheart. Don’t you just love the carpet? And the
kitchen appliances are top shelf, believe me.”
Peter
felt as though a pressure was building inside of him, a ball of panic and
anger.
His mom made no sense. Where was his dad? He felt dizzy and the pancake inside
his belly lurched. “What does the carpet have to do with it? We already have a
place to live.”
At
last, Peter’s father arrived. Manos was a handsome man with olive
skin and a thin face and wavy black hair. He had kind eyes, and at once he saw
the look of distress on Peter’s face. They met and hugged in the hallway. After
a moment Jovanna joined them, and together the family cried.
|
“Peter,
I’m gonna tell you the truth. It’s a little scary but you need to know. And you
have a right to know, because you’re a member of this family. We had to move suddenly and it’s not fair to
anyone,” Manos said. The three of them sat at the little table and Jovanna
brought Manos coffee.
“Okay.
Tell me. I’m not scared.”
“I
was an accountant at my old job and I handled money for people. One of my
clients was a wealthy man, a treasure hunter. I found out a few days ago that
he was taking things that didn’t belong to him. His business isn’t legal.”
“Did
you call the police?” Peter asked.
“Not
at first. I called the client and asked for details. I explained his business
was breaking the law, and he got worried. And this is the scary part, okay?”
“Okay.”
Peter’s
mother fidgeted at the table.
“My
client is a powerful man. And he decided to…get rid of me.”
“What’s
that mean? Like, kidnap you?”
Manos
nodded.
“Maybe.”
“Something
worse than kidnap you?”
“Maybe.”
Jovanna
said, “But
we’re safe now.” She took Peter’s hand and squeezed. Peter didn’t notice — he
pulled idly on his lip with the other hand and wondered how on earth anyone
could want to hurt his dad.
“Lucky
for us, a friend of mine warned me. About the client and his plan. I alerted
the police, and they helped us move to safety.” Manos took a long drink of his
coffee and then sighed in the way he often did during breakfast. “I told the
police yesterday. We moved last night, and that’s why you woke up in a hotel.”
The
Client, Peter thought. What a terrifying name. “Will the police
capture The Client?”
“It’s
more complicated than that. They have to gather evidence to prove he was
breaking the law.”
“How
far away did we move?”
Peter’s
mother and father shared a worried glance. “Three hours.”
“Three
hours! What about my school?”
His
parents didn’t respond.
“What
about my friends? My soccer team?”
“Peter.
I’m so sorry…” his dad said. “But—”
“Where
is Mr. Hippo?”
“I
left our cat with the neighbor,” replied Jovanna hesitantly.
“Are
we still in New Jersey?”
“We’re
in Manhattan.”
“Manhattan.
Where’s that?”
His
father answered, “New York City. Far away from my client. And
we have to stay here a while.”
The
telephone rang suddenly and Peter was so startled he jumped. Manos
stood to answer it. “Hello? Hello, Mrs. Trolley. …Yes I got your message.”
Peter
thought his head would explode. He ran into his room, which wasn’t really
his room, and closed the door and got under the covers.
 |
The
next three days were the darkest of Peter’s life. He didn’t leave his
room for forty-eight hours, because his heart was too broken. He stared at the
blank walls and read books and thought about his friends and his cat. A hotel. Nobody
lives in a hotel. What kind of hotel didn’t have windows with a view? A bad
hotel, that’s what kind. It even smelled funny, or at least it smelled
different. Plus, their apartment wasn’t very big. A kitchen, an eating area, a
couch with a television, and two bedrooms—that was it. Their old house had been
twice this big, and it had a cat.
Peter’s
family had relocated once before, just before his fifth birthday, and that move
had been sudden too. He’d been ready to start kindergarten with the kids from
his pre-school class and then suddenly, poof, they were gone. The giant
insurance company his father worked at closed unexpectedly and they’d moved to
New Jersey. Now it had happened again.
As
a result, Peter felt a little homeless. And friendless. Like he
didn’t belong anywhere. He knew that making a family leave in the middle of the
night was wrong. But what could he do?
Peter
thought about the evil Client. His father Manos claimed he was a
treasure hunter and scuba diver and explorer, but wouldn’t tell him what The
Client did that was so awful, but Peter knew it must be terrible. He imagined
The Client stealing cars and bullying children and robbing banks and laughing
about it. Peter got so mad that his ears turned red.
What
he wanted most of all was to have a home and to stay there, and to have friends
he wouldn’t worry about leaving.
And
to be Batman. He’d like to be Batman. That way, he thought, he could
find The Client and throw him in jail personally.
Overtime
Peter became aware of new sounds from outside his wall, like whooshing water
and soft voices. Sometimes it sounded as though he was in the
belly of a whale under water. He placed his hand flat on the wall and noticed a
subtle vibration, a faint humming, one which hadn’t been present at his old
house, except maybe when the air conditioning had rattled to life. Secretly, he
liked the humming. The hotel felt alive.
His
mother visited for the fifth time that day, bringing a sandwich. Peter sat up in bed and asked, “What
are the noises in the walls?”
“We’re
on the second floor of a twenty-story hotel. You’re hearing other people.”
Peter
gasped.
“Twenty floors?”
“I
told you, sweetheart, the Crown is a special building.”
“There
are eighteen levels of people directly above our heads?”
“That’s
right. And a restaurant. Two, actually. And a library. And the Tea Room. And
many other things.”
“How
many people?” Peter asked in amazement.
“I
don’t know. The Crown is divided between ritzy hotel rooms on the top floors,
and private condominium units on the bottom. Over three hundred units total.”
“What’s
a private condominium unit?”
“Like
an apartment where people live permanently instead of staying as guests,” Jovanna
said. She was playing with Peter’s hair. “We’re living in a private condominium
unit. A small one.”
Outside
of Peter’s
room, the telephone rang. Manos answered it, and immediately he left to fix a
problem somewhere in the Crown. He was always leaving to fix things, even
during the night. Peter’s father’s full name was Manos Ambrosia. He’d been
raised in Greece, and he still had a faint Greek accent.
“How
did Dad get this job?” Peter asked.
“His
friend from college is one of the managers of the Crown. Your father called his
friend Mr. Conrad and explained we needed a place to hide for a couple days. Mr.
Conrad told him the hotel needed a new superintendent and he offered your
father the job.”
“Mr.
Conrad sounds friendly.”
“I
wish you’d come outside. I want you to see the Crown. I just know you’ll like
it after you’ve explored, Peter. This is a wonderful place. But, for it to be
perfect, it needs you.”
Peter
rolled over in bed, once again desperately sad. He didn’t want to
help the hotel be perfect. It’s hard moving to new places, and Peter had lived
seven years at their old house. He didn’t even know they’d moved until he woke
up, and his mind was having a hard time adjusting.
 |
On
the third day, Peter came out of his room to watch television with his parents. They
let Peter choose the show, but he’d never had cable before — he wanted to watch
it all. He flipped back and forth between the Weather Channel and Scooby-Doo,
eating Cheerios.
After
several shows, his mother took the remote. “Peter. There are a few
things we need to discuss.”
Peter
lowered his head onto his knees and scrunched his eyes. “Yes
ma’am. About what?”
“I
start work tomorrow. Downstairs, in the Laundry.”
“The
Laundry? You mean, like, clothes?”
“Yes.
Dad’s job will pay for most of our bills, but not all. So I’m working
part-time,” Jovanna said.
“Whose
clothes are you washing?”
Manos
laughed. “Everyone’s.”
“A
lot of people live at the Crown, and there are no washing machines. So the
tenants send their dirty clothes to the Laundry and we return them clean and
pressed.”
This
didn’t
strike Peter as unusual. His dirty clothes always came back clean and pressed,
and his mother was the one who cleaned and pressed them. “Sure, okay. What will
I do?”
“You
can come with me,” Manos said. “I’m installing Mr. Banks’s new stove, and then
working in the Mechanical Rooms in the basement.”
“That
doesn’t sound safe, Manos. He can stay here, or he can look around. He has to
leave the apartment sometime. He’s a very trustworthy boy.”
His
father said, “Another thing, Peter. And this one is weird, buddy,
okay? We’re changing our last name.”
“Dad.
Be serious. That’s not even possible.”
“At
our old home, I was known as Manos Ambrosia and you were Peter Ambrosia. If we
keep those names then my client will find us. So we need a new last name. Make sense?”
“None
of this makes sense,” Peter said miserably. “What’s our new last name?”
“I
like Constantine,” he said. “Short for Constantinides, a good Greek name. What
do you think?”
Peter
leaned against his mother and fought back tears. “I think this whole
thing is awful.”
Even
though he couldn’t admit it to his parents, he secretly
thought Peter Constantine sounded catchy.
About the Author
Winner of the
2016 National Indie Excellence Award!
You work hard.
I write adventures.
Let me entertain you.
I write adventures.
Let me entertain you.
My favorite
adventurers: Ender, Frodo and Sam, Rand, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin,
Katniss, Spenser, Peter and Alicia and Amy (from The Passage), Jack Ryan, Dirk
Pitt, and many others, including my two sons and my super hot wife.
Author
Links:
Blog Tour Organized by:
0 comments:
Post a Comment