Eve and Malachi - Complete Series Boxed Set: Eve and Malachi

By Abigail Hilton

Eve is an inquisitive baby rat who regularly escapes from her cage. One night she meets a strange creature in a glass tank across the room—a boa constrictor named Malachi. The snake is amused by Eve's questions, and he awes her with stories of the wilds where he was caught. What will happen to their fragile friendship when Eve discovers what Malachi eats? Can they devise a solution that will save both Malachi and Eve's family of rats?

 

This is the complete, 6-book Eve and Malachi Series. The books are:

 

Feeding Malachi
Malachi and the Ghost Kitten
Malachi and the Deadly Pool
Malachi and the Secret Menagerie
Malachi and the Twilight Zoo
Malachi and the Dragon

 

These spooky children's books are divided into short chapters. The stories have a few scary moments, but also happy endings. This collection includes illustrations for all 6 books in the series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pavonine Books
• Release date: Jan 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386870326

Abigail Hilton

Abigail Hilton is a traveling nurse anesthetist, based in Florida. She has spent time in veterinary school and done graduate work in literature. You can connect with Abbie and find all her social media links at www.abigailhilton.com. Abbie also writes steamy fantasy romance under the pen name A. H. Lee. If that sounds interesting to you, check out Incubus Caged. Warning: those books are edgier than her epic fantasy series.

Book preview

Eve and Malachi Complete Series

Six-Book Set

By: Abigail Hilton

Published by: Pavonine Books

Cover art by: Sarah Cloutier

Interior illustrations Books 1-4 by: Sarah Cloutier

Interior illustrations Book 5 and 6: Aki Ruiz

Cover Design by: Jeff McDowall

© 2018 Abigail Hilton. All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This material may not be reproduced, modified, or distributed without the express prior permission of the copyright holder. Artwork is displayed by agreement with the artists.

Table of Contents

Book 1 – Feeding Malachi

Chapter 1. In Which Eve Makes a Strange Discovery

Chapter 2. Meet Malachi

Chapter 3. A tail with a head that sees with his nose and smells with his tongue

Chapter 4. What the Cat Said

Chapter 5. The Best Food in the House

Chapter 6. Hatching a Plot

Chapter 7. In Which Everything Goes Wrong

Chapter 8. In Which Malachi Talks About Dragons

Chapter 9. The Solution

Chapter 10. Wings

Book 2 – Malachi and the Ghost Kitten

Chapter 1. In Which the Cat May Be Right

Chapter 2. Manners

Chapter 3. In Which Malachi Gets Dinner and Makes a Bargain

Chapter 4. In Which Evil Things Look Ordinary

Chapter 5. Beware!

Chapter 6. In Which Effy Loves Something

Chapter 7. A Rescue Gone Wrong

Chapter 8. The Devourer

Chapter 9. Vengeance

Chapter 10. Friends

Book 3 – Malachi and the Deadly Pool

Chapter 1. Normal for Snakes

Chapter 2. In Which Eve Plans to Disobey

Chapter 3. In Which Beautiful Places are Dangerous

Chapter 4. In Which Eve Overhears a Troubling Conversation

Chapter 5. The Pool in the Woods

Chapter 6. Not Quite Human

Chapter 7. In Which Gwen Tells a Story and Athena Gives a Warning

Chapter 8. Everything Happens at Sunset

Chapter 9. In Which the Pool Proves Deadly

Chapter 10. Grow or Drown

Book 4 – Malachi and the Secret Menagerie

Chapter 1. A Shrinking Family

Chapter 2. In Which Eve and Her Friends Learn of a Kidnapping

Chapter 3. A Plan and a Suspect

Chapter 4. In Which Nobody Likes Douglas

Chapter 5. Another Note

Chapter 6. In Which We Finally Learn the Boy’s Name

Chapter 7. In Which the Police May Be Looking for a Corn Plant

Chapter 8. Chases in the Dark

Chapter 9. In Which X Marks Nothing

Chapter 10. She

Chapter 11. In Which the Kidnapper is Revealed

Chapter 12. In Which Douglas Learns the Meaning of Alibi

Book 5 – Malachi and the Twilight Zoo

Chapter 1. A Message from Cats

Chapter 2. In Which Malachi Agrees to Meet Mindy

Chapter 3. In Which Mindy Says Gosh a Lot

Chapter 4. The Zoo

Chapter 5. Lions

Chapter 6. In Which a Cub is a Cub, No Matter How Large

Chapter 7. In Which the Rats Are For the Rats

Chapter 8. Crumble and Sweets

Chapter 9. Too Many Lions

Chapter 10. Minor Criminal

Chapter 11. When the Lights Shine Like a Thousand Eyes

Chapter 12. Hasan

Chapter 13. Brave Fools

Chapter 14. In Which Gwen and Mindy Have Earned Their Hot Chocolate

Book 6 – Malachi and the Dragon

Chapter 1. A Good Ratty Life

Chapter 2. The Woods Are Lovely Dark and Deep

Chapter 3. Good-bye

Chapter 4. In Which Eve Asks A Question that Malachi Will Not Answer

Chapter 5. The Moon Road

Chapter 6. The Sphinx

Chapter 7. I Can Be False

Chapter 8. Athena

Chapter 9. The Dragon

Chapter 10. In Which Malachi Gets his Wings

Epilogue

About the Artists

Feeding Malachi

Eve and Malachi, Book 1

Chapter 1. In Which Eve Makes a Strange Discovery

Abbie M01

Eve, if you go out again, I’ll shut the cage! said Phineas to his little cousin. Phineas was a black hooded rat, and he stood bristling beneath the water bottle.

Eve looked down at him from the top of the bottle. You’re just jealous because you’re too big to go out, and you never thought of it when you were smaller.

This was true. No rat had considered going out of the glass tank until Eve decided to try. They all thought her rather strange.

Be sure to bring back a good story! called Athena, her sister.

Yes, but mind the cat, said Moses, her father.

Do be careful, said Maribel, her mother, and her aunt and cousins and brothers and sisters said the same.

Eve turned to look at them and nearly lost her balance on top of the water bottle. She was a cream hooded rat with pink eyes, still very small. I’m always careful. I’ll bring back a lovely story, Athena. Then she pushed the screen lid with her nose, wriggled her head through the crack, and squirmed out of the glass tank. Eve made sure the lid remained a little ajar. She didn’t worry about Phineas closing it because she knew he wanted to hear her stories as much as the others.

Eve dropped to the shelf beside her home. She waved to her brothers and sisters and cousins and aunt and mother and father, and then started into the dark, quiet house for another adventure.

The cat, she thought, is she out tonight? Eve tested the air with her nose and scanned the dark room. Not a whiff of cat!

Eve took a running start and jumped onto the big, soft chair just across from the shelf where she lived. She bounced once and then scampered up the other side. From the top of the chair, she jumped onto a bookshelf that ran along the far wall. Eve liked the bookshelf—so many hiding places that smelled of leather and paper and ink. From the top of the bookshelf, she could see almost to the end of the room. Eve had never gotten quite to the end before. Usually the cat came, and she had to run. She’d nearly been eaten twice, which was terrifying, but made wonderful stories.

Tonight, thought Eve, I will reach the far end of the room. If the cat comes, I will bite her! Of course, she would do nothing of the kind, but saying so made her feel brave. She started off: from the bookshelf to the desk, from the desk to the rolling chair, from the rolling chair to the plant stand, and from the plant stand across the floor to the sofa. All this took a great deal of time, as Eve was obliged to stop and sniff and clean the dust from her whiskers and bathe herself (for no self-respecting rat would go without a bath after getting dusty) and chew a pencil on the desk and nibble the cookie crumbs left by the boy.

By the time Eve reached the sofa, she was tired and had nearly forgotten why she’d come. But then she looked up and saw the table against the very back wall. Eve gave a little squeak of excitement and cried, I did it! I reached the end, and then she ran under the sofa for fear the cat had heard her.

Cautiously she put a whisker out and then her nose. Finding herself still in one piece, she emerged and looked up at the table. I wonder what’s on top.

Eve was not the sort of rat to stand idle when there are strange tables to explore, so she shimmied up the sofa and climbed onto the arm to have a look. Or two looks. Or three.

In fact, Eve couldn’t take her eyes off the table. It looks just like our home, she whispered. I didn’t know there were two, not in all the world.

The glass tank on the table did look like Eve’s home, and as Eve crept closer she saw something moving inside.

Chapter 2. Meet Malachi

Abbie M02

Something was alive inside the new glass tank. Eve did not think it was a cat. She hopped onto the table and inched closer, sniffing, but the glass kept her from catching the stranger’s scent. Finally she grew so impatient that she went right up to the tank.

Immediately there was a loud bump and Eve started back. A face with a long neck moved up and down in front of her.

Oh, it said and stood still, you’re on the outside. A pair of bright black eyes examined her curiously. Eve thought she’d never seen so odd a creature.

Please, sir, she began, are you a rat or a human or (she gulped) are you a cat?

The stranger smiled. I’m not any of those things.

Eve looked confused. What other things are there?

Well...there are snakes. I am a snake—a boa constrictor, actually. My name is Malachi.

Eve had never heard of any creatures besides rats and humans and cats. He certainly has a very long neck, she thought. Eve kept seeing more and more of his neck, but she couldn’t find where his body began.

Where are your shoulders? she asked.

I haven’t any.

And your whiskers? Your belly, your tail?

Malachi smiled. "I’m all tail."

Eve thought this extremely odd, and she was trying to imagine what it would be like to have her head attached to her tail, when the snake spoke again. "What is your name?"

Eve.

You’re a brave baby rat, Eve.

Eve bristled. I’m not a baby! I’m almost a month old. (She was only two and a half weeks, actually, but she thought that was close enough.)

Malachi put his head down next to her. The distance from the tip of his nose to the back of his jaw was bigger than her entire body. You’re not that old, he said.

Eve was feeling sulky and tried to change the subject. The cat isn’t out tonight. I didn’t need to be brave to come across the room. I just needed a lot of energy. (And with that she yawned.)

Not brave? laughed the snake. Don’t you know who I am?

Yes, you’ve just told me. You’re a tail with a head, called Malachi.

He laughed. That’s not what I mean. I mean, don’t you know the relationship between you and me?

Eve looked very much surprised. I don’t think we’re related...and if we were, I don’t think I’d admit it.

Malachi cocked his head on one side. You really don’t know, do you?

Don’t know what? Eve came to the glass again and put her nose against it. She could see a stick inside and some water in a big dish.

The snake hesitated. Nothing.

I do most certainly know many things! retorted Eve. I’ve been out of my glass tank, and not even my father will do that.

I’m sure he won’t. Malachi seemed to be thinking of something else and not really listening to her.

This annoyed Eve. The boy must not love you very much, she said slyly. I can’t see that he feeds you.

Oh, he feeds me, said the snake quickly.

Where’s your food, then? I don’t see any grain or apples or grapes in your tank.

I don’t eat very often—only once a month.

Oh? Eve was much astonished. You must eat a great deal at one time!

Yes... said Malachi slowly. I eat a great deal.

I’m tired, said Eve, and I shouldn’t be standing around in the open like this. The cat might come.

Oh, the cat won’t come here, said Malachi. She never comes on my table.

What makes you so sure? Aren’t you afraid of the cat?

Malachi flicked his tongue and grinned. Nope.

Why?

He thought for a moment. Because I’m bigger.

This seemed to Eve like a good reason. She sighed. Well, I’m not. I have to go home now. Good-bye, Malachi.

He raised his head and watched until she was out of sight. Good-bye, Eve.

Chapter 3. A tail with a head that sees with his nose and smells with his tongue

Abbie M03

When Eve got back to her tank, she told her whole family about the strange creature called a snake with no body and no whiskers, and whose head was attached to his tail. Most of the family was skeptical, and Phineas announced that he didn’t believe a word of it. You’re just making up stories because you really didn’t do anything interesting tonight.

Eve squeaked at him and tried to nip his ear, but her mother intervened. Now, Eve, try to get along with your cousins. Remember they won’t be here forever.

I’m not a liar, she pouted. I really did meet him.

I believe you, Eve, said Athena, but Eve could tell that even Athena wasn’t sure.

Only her father, Moses, seemed to have no doubts about her story, but his reaction was not what she had expected. Eve, you must never go near that creature again.

But, father, he’s not a cat!

No, but I think he is dangerous.

"He’s