Here Be Monsters! An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures; The Ratbridge Chronicles Volume 1 Chapter 1

Coming Up!

• The city of Ratbridge stands dark and empty on a Sunday night… except for a boy who crawls out of a drain cover.
• The boy, Arthur, is wearing a pair of mechanical wings and carrying a toy figure dressed like him (which is to say, oddly).
• He describes what he sees to the doll, addressing it as Grandfather, and it talks back to him, telling him to be careful as he gathers food.
• Arthur finds a greenhouse with bananas growing inside—score—but while gathering some bananas to take with him, he accidentally makes some noise, which brings the owners out to investigate.
• One lady sees him and manages to hit his wings with a stick. Arthur escapes, but is shaken, so to recover, he flies to the top of the Cheese Hall, which is an abandoned building.
• Then he hears a weird bleat and goes to investigate. There's some kind of procession in the woods, hmm…