Adam Jay Epstein

Chopping blades, scorpion nests, giant spider webs―no one makes traps better than Wily Snare. He has never seen the sun or a blue sky or even his parents. Wily Snare lives underground, creating traps to keep treasure-seekers away from the gold in an ancient wizard's dungeon. He spends his days mopping up giant-slug slime, avoiding poison darts, and herding undead skeletons. It's all he knows. But then an unusual band of adventurers―an acrobatic...

When a scrappy alley cat named Aldwyn passes himself off as a magical animal companion to Jack, a young wizard in training, Aldwyn and his fellow "familiars," a know-it-all blue jay and bumbling tree frog, must save the kingdom after the evil queen of Vastia kidnaps Jack and two other wizards.