On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson

While there, Leeli gets separated from her brothers after chasing her dog, Nugget, and she crosses the path of a passing Fang with the desire to beat or eat something.

Podo, sensing Janner’s restlessness and thinking some freedom and responsibility would be good for him, allows his grandson to take Leeli and Tink to the festival unaccompanied. It’s special, but still fairly adventure-free as far as Janner is concerned. The most adventure he’s ever seen is during Dragon Day, a local festival that the Fangs endure, because each year majestic dragons appear in the nearby sea and sing.

He dreams of adventure, even though he isn’t sure how that could ever be. Janner, however, longs for more than reading books and digging weeds out of Podo’s garden. The foul-smelling Fangs keep eye, and the human residents of Glipwood stay as quiet and out of sight as possible. They live like other humans in the area: carefully. And even Podo shows the signs of battle-having replaced the lower part of one leg with a wooden stump. Their father had died in the war with the Fangs, like many fathers had. They make up an average-looking family in the little township of Glipwood. Janner, his thin and wiry brother Tink, and his little sister, Leeli, all live with their mother, Nia, and grandfather Podo. Had she been awake? Janner isn’t sure, but it keeps him up at night. One night she was lying in bed, after probably kissing her parents goodnight and saying her prayers, and then the Black Carriage came for her. Only last week, Janner had heard whispers about a girl named Sara, the same age as himself, who was taken. Now they rule with a heavy claw and whisk away children for any whim or reason they may have. These lizard-like horrors crossed the Sea of Darkness and conquered all of humankind in the land of Skree. The dark conveyance carries off unfortunate victims-usually human children-at the will of the Fangs of Dang. If there’s one thing that keeps 12-year-old Janner Igiby up at night, it’s the thought of the Black Carriage a dreadful coach that arrives at night with the thud of horse hooves, the jangle of chains and the caw of circling crows.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson