“If I ask you to do something, will you do it?”“Maybe.”“Maybe?”“Well, I don’t know what it is yet. But I’m guessing that death is the alternative, so I’m prepared to be reasonable.” Sam Cooper is seventeen. He drives a cherry red 1968 GTO that he won on a bet, and spends his days exploring the open roads of the great American West. He should be living the teenage dream, but post-collapse America is a hard place to survive. The United States is long dead, basic resources are getting scarcer, and no one on Earth has seen the stars since before he was born. Vast tracts of the country are now empty as people huddle together for safety. In all this chaos, Sam has survived on his wits and occasional luck. But a visit to the walled and prosperous Century City results in a split-second decision that changes everything. Soon Sam is on the run from the ruthless Carolyn Bast, and by something much more dangerous: MUTHA—a powerful artificial entity that has been watching and waiting for Sam’s return from the barren outlands. Sam unknowingly carries the key to something MUTHA can’t live without, something so dangerous that others are willing to kill him, or worse, to ensure that the great plex never possesses it. Sam can’t stay one step ahead of them forever. His only hope is to unravel the secrets of his peculiar past and awaken the incredible power that sleeps within—because even in his beloved GTO, without the truth, Sam will never succeed in outracing the nightmare to come.

It's been two months since Belladonna Johnson discovered she was the Spellbinder, and she's full of questions about her powers. When a ghost finds Belladonna and her classmate, Steve, and gives them a mysterious map, the friends don't know if they should be looking for or hiding from the one person who holds the answers to Belladonna's powers: the Queen of the Abyss. Throw into the mix that Belladonna's parents, who are ghosts, have disappeared and that her brand-new and maybe even sinister foster family seems to know more than they'll let on, and you have a sequel made of high adventure and intrigue, seasoned with affecting characters and topped with a dollop of wit.

**"Blood binds strongest." "But ... you're dead. You don't have any blood. Your body isn't even here. It's over there in the museum."** Belladonna Johnson is getting used to being the Spellbinder. Saving the world, seeing ghosts, and taking regular trips to the Land of the Dead have become positively humdrum. But when she and Steve discover a girl who has been waiting two thousand years for someone to rescue her, they find themselves involved with Old Magic and people and spirits unknown to even the mighty Queen of the Abyss. This time they are on their own, and to make things even more complicated, it's Halloween, the one time of year when ghosts can go wherever they want, which means it's even more difficult for Belladonna to work out exactly who is alive ... and who is dead.