Search Worlds Without End

A gift for sorcery descends to the women of the Marsh family, but Tina's mother doesn't want to talk about it, so Tina is on her own and unprepared when random objects inexplicably start to disappear: a doorknob, a shoe, the kitchen linoleum, and even the huge statue of King Jagiello in Central Park. It's just the "kraken"--a vast world-eating monster from an evil dimension--trying to grab something that Tina doesn't even know she has. But unexpected allies show up: a touchy young violinist from the posh East Side and a shabby old street musician who is much more than he seems. It's up to these three, using magic and music, to save New York from the kraken's devouring ferocity.

The monster rages through the subway tunnels. Meanwhile, three thugs calling themselves the "Princes of Darkness" work to set it free, breaking the network of venerable landmarks that make up the city's supernatural defense. Tina and her friends race desperately to find the stolen statue, to restore it to its place as guardian and champion against paranormal threats--but magic alone can't defeat the kraken: that will take their strongest daring and creativity and loyalty to each other.

Valentine Marsh's magic grandmother is gone--missing from her New Jersey retirement home--and Val's mom fears the worst. But Val knows that Gran is on a mission. Unlike her mom, Val accepts the reality of the magical gift that all the Marsh women inherit, so it's no huge surprise when she discovers that the new school psychologist--clever, jovial, creepy Dr. Brightner--is not only a ruthless necromancer but also the threat that has sent Gran into hiding. Brightner is determined to co-opt the Marsh women's gifts, which he needs to power an evil ritual that will steal an army of souls from New York's homeless and deliver them to fight in a distant wizards' war. Far from supporting Val, her mom falls under Brightner's spell. With only her brains, her nerve, and the unknown powers of the enchanted glove from Gran, Val desperately strives to improvise the rescue of her mother--and of Brightner's army of helpless, conscripted souls--before his growing vortex of destructive force sweeps them all away to their doom.

Valentine Marsh has had a gut-wrenching year. While negotiating the usual rocky social terrain of high school, she's had a magical heritage thrust upon her, defeated a monster at grim personal cost (The Bronze King), and by a hair's breadth foiled the soul-stealing scheme of a pair of evil necromancers (The Silver Glove). And even now she can't catch a break!

During a New Year's Eve party in New York, Valentine and her friends unwittingly launch a far-reaching magical flare. Within days, the sending attracts a new threat--an arrogant young noblewoman masquerading as a foreign student named "Bosanka Lonatz." Bosanka gives Val a deadline to reconvene the New Year's party, aka the "Comet Committee," to help her summon her own lost people who might very well take over Earth, in place of the alien world they once ruled but had to abandon. With Granny Gran lying comatose in the hospital, Val must race time once more to forestall otherworldly disaster--but first she's got to rally her scattered, unpredictable friends and get a grip on her own fears, for a final confrontation with an angry and powerful enemy.