Fifteen-year-old Taydis Fletcher lost his grandfather—his only positive role model—in a supposed wild animal attack. Without his mentor, Taydis has lost his way.
Everything changes when magical orbs gift him the very thing he needs most, something humanity lost long ago: empathy.
Taydis is whisked away to Arrendar Academy, an outdoor school once attended by his late grandfather. There, he learns how to survive in the wild, craft magical armor, and ultimately, earn more orbs. For the first time in his life, he feels like he belongs.
Six teenagers from different backgrounds - outsider Kate, pirate Patrick, golden boy Teddy, princess Lady, loner Dana, and Dougie, the rebel - all find themselves on a South Coast bridge one Saturday night and decide to face their demons together.
Susan time slips between two different worlds - her everyday present is at home and school but by night she has a magical past in Victorian London. There, resourceful orphan boy Baxter has taken her under his wing like a sister. Pearly King coster boy and rat catcher, Baxter’s trades bring them into unusual company, children alone in the city and living on the margins of society. When Baxter and Susan fall into the employ of Bram Jarvis, a man with revenge on his mind, they are soon drawn in to strange new adventures.
Set in San Francisco in 1969, Maggie Stone is the twelve-year-old daughter of a single mother who suffers from a mental condition that sends her to bed unresponsive for hours at a time. Forced to be the responsible adult since the age of eight, Maggie has had to do the household shopping, cooking, cleaning and money management chores. When her mother is hospitalized after lapsing into an extended coma, Maggie is sent to an orphanage. A month later her grandfather Ira, whom Maggie has never met, suddenly shows up in San Francisco to whisk Maggie away to his ranch in Montana.
