Only weeks remain before the election that will decide the fate of supernaturals in Estero, with presidential challenger Magdalia Palacio in the lead. Desperate to maintain his grip on power, corrupt President Fuerte has leaked photos of the forgotten five to the press, making the kids public enemy number one. And now the location of their safe house has been discovered, and the five and their friends are on the run. With their identities revealed to the world, the kids must master the art of disguise to move freely about Estero, including infiltrating an upcoming Fuerte campaign event at the Estero City Zoo. But the other side is willing to play dirty, so the five will have to be ready for anything. Meanwhile, Cabot’s parents, who have been acting as double agents for years, dare to cross the president and are arrested, leaving them unable to share critical information: Fuerte has a new super on his team with the power to change the course of the election--and no one will see it coming until it is too late.

Autorentext

Lisa McMann is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of dozens of books, including The Forgotten Five series, The Unwanteds series, the Wake trilogy, and Clarice the Brave. She is married to fellow writer Matt McMann, and they have two adult children—their son is artist Kilian McMann, and their daughter is actor Kennedy McMann. Lisa spends most of her time in Arizona, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and loves to cook, read, and watch reality TV.

Zusammenfassung
X-Men meets Spy Kids in the sixth installment of The Forgotten Five children's fantasy/adventure series by the New York Times bestselling author of The Unwanteds. Now in paperback!

Leseprobe
Election Season

Two months after The Librarian's explosive rescue from the palace dungeon, Brix came bounding across the monastery lawn from the scooter corral, through the crunchy leaves, to the back deck of the cottage. He slid open the door and stepped inside, where preparations for a party were underway. Lada and Tenner were messily making a cake in the kitchen, and Elena and Seven were stringing a celebratory banner in the living area. Though the presidential election was less than two weeks away, and danger for the forgotten five had ramped up significantly in Estero City thanks to Martim, the supers were trying to enjoy a normal autumn Wednesday to celebrate Birdie's fourteenth birthday.

"There are protesters gathering outside the main gate," Brix said urgently, breathing hard. A helmet dangled by its chin straps from his fingers, and he wore sunglasses along with a black buzz-cut wig that disguised his wavy honey-brown hair. Puerco came hopping and sliding down the stairs and careening around the corner to greet and sniff him.

No one immediately shared Brix's concern. There had been nonstop protests in Estero for months, mostly election-related. But some of the protests were against supernatural people, who'd started to come out of hiding lately due to Magdalia Palacio's support and encouragement. "I thought I heard something," Tenner said, looking up, "but I tried to tune it out. What are they chanting about this time?"

"Protesters, schmotesters," Seven grumbled from the living area. He and Elena were trying to secure a happy birthday banner so it hung evenly, but it was frustratingly difficult because it went invisible every time he touched it. He kept having to climb onto a dining chair to adjust it, then let go of it to see if he'd put it where he'd wanted it, then get off the chair to get the full view of the banner, then climb back up and adjust it again. All of Seven's work over the past months to try to conceal items and people had led to him fully concealing everything that weighed less than about forty pounds. Things larger than that faded partially, like Birdie when he held her hand. She didn't mind.

Elena glanced at Brix. "How many protesters? Are they anti-Fuerte or anti-Magdalia?"

Brix shook his head. "Neither," he said. "They're anti-us."

Everyone stopped what they were doing. "What do you mean?" Lada asked. "They're protesting supernatural people outside the monastery? Don't they realize they'd never get the monks' support on that?" She had flour all over her sweatshirt and some on her cheek and nose from adjusting her glasses. "Only a coincidence, I hope. Or do they think the monks are supers or something?"

"What did the monks ever do to anybody?" Tenner wondered. "They're the best people Estero has. National treasures."

Brix shook his head impatiently. "No, you don't get it. The protesters are against us kids-the children of the supernatural criminals."

"Holy expletive," Seven muttered under his breath. "They couldn't have found us." Occasional rumblings against the forgotten five had been happening since Martim had released the damaging article that revealed the existence of the five children on the loose in Estero. It had described the kids as armed and dangerous. President Fuerte had referenced the article in a speech a few days later, telling his constituents in a dark voice, "Magdalia's other child is among them. Isn't that interesting? Why didn't she tell us about him?" Murmurs had begun throughout Estero.

In response, Magdalia immediately changed the bio on her website to reflect that she had two sons-her recently adopted son, Paithoon, and her son with Martim, Seven. Then she released a statement saying the reason she hadn't disclosed the existence of Seven was because she was protecting him, as he and the other children had been in hiding. But now that Seven was here in Estero, she was thrilled to be reunited with him. She assured the people that the children of the supernatural criminals were only interested in helping Estero become a better place, and that President Fuerte was recklessly endangering their lives with his lies. Magdalia's constituents accepted the explanation. But a persistent group of Fuerte's followers latched on to the fear of a supernatural gang of armed child bandits and was determined to track them down and . . . Well, no one was sure what they planned to do if they managed to catch them.

"There was a group protesting us at the park last week," Seven continued. "I saw them when I was sneaking around searching for Birdie's snake." He'd found it, too, living a nice life in the lush grass near the fountain where Birdie had flown off the police horse and cracked her skull months before. It had been a nerve-racking walk home with a venomous snake-invisible because it touched Seven-slithering between his fingers and around his wrist. "The protesters there were just a bunch of kooky Fuerte followers who hate Magdalia and decided to hate us kids, too, because why not? Fuerte has been telling his base that they need to be cautious and vigilant and watch out for us, as if we're out to hurt everyone."

"Fuerte has been riling them up," said Tenner. "Offering us as targets to go after." His eyes shifted, making his extra-large pupils shimmer when they caught a stream of late-afternoon sunlight coming through the window. "Maybe the protesters decided to wander the streets today instead of staying in the park." He didn't add what they were all worrying about: that one of them had been recognized coming or going. Because it wasn't simply Birdie's forensic sketch out there now. Actual photos of all the kids except Seven had been in the newspapers over the past weeks. The photos had come from video footage taken in the palace dungeon during the surprise attack to rescue The Librarian. In the chaos, nobody had noticed that Fuerte had installed cameras sometime after they'd busted Elena out of there many months earlier. They'd suspected that Fuerte had been anticipating their return, but now they were sure.

"No, Tenner," Brix insisted. "The protesters aren't just wandering-they're stationed here, carryi…