Unraveled Book 9.5

**Includes a bonus sneak peek of Book 10! For the first printing only-this paperback features colorful sprayed edges in a special design by Shannon Messenger while the special edition supply lasts.

The past and present unravel into staggering truths in this can't-miss installment of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series told entirely from Keefe's point of view.**

Please be careful. Please be happy. And PLEASE forget all about me. It'll be better for everyone that way.

Those were the last words Keefe Sencen wrote to Sophie Foster before he ran away to the Forbidden Cities. He didn't want to leave, but it was the only way to keep his friends safe while he figured out how to control his scary new powers and searched for answers about his past.

What he found was so much more than adventures in Humanland.

Where did he go? What did he do? And who did he meet while the rest of his friends worked to solve the mystery of Stellarlune? The answers go far beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined and give Keefe the power to change his destiny.**

Autorentext

Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She studied art, screenwriting, and television production but realized her real passion was writing for kids and teens. She’s the internationally, New York Times, and *USA TODAY *bestselling author of the award-winning middle grade series Keeper of the Lost Cities, as well as the Sky Fall young adult series. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many languages. She lives in Southern California with her family and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at ShannonMessenger.com and @SW_Messenger on Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Klappentext

**Includes a bonus sneak peek of Book 10! For the first printing only—this paperback features colorful sprayed edges in a special design by Shannon Messenger while the special edition supply lasts.

The past and present unravel into staggering truths in this can’t-miss installment of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series told entirely from Keefe’s point of view.**

Please be careful. Please be happy. And PLEASE forget all about me. It’ll be better for everyone that way.

Those were the last words Keefe Sencen wrote to Sophie Foster before he ran away to the Forbidden Cities. He didn’t want to leave, but it was the only way to keep his friends safe while he figured out how to control his scary new powers and searched for answers about his past.

What he found was so much more than adventures in Humanland.

Where did he go? What did he do? And who did he meet while the rest of his friends worked to solve the mystery of Stellarlune? The answers go far beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined and give Keefe the power to change his destiny.

Leseprobe
Chapter One ONE
OKAY. NOW WHAT?"

Keefe made himself ask the question out loud.

He needed to start using his voice again.

After all, that's why he was doing this.

Or part of the reason, anyway-and he didn't have time to think about the other scary, stressful things he was running away from.

He had more than enough scary, stressful stuff to deal with already.

Like the fact that he had no idea where he was, or where he wanted to go, and all he had was a small backpack crammed with elf-y things that probably weren't going to be very useful now that he was in Humanland.

Or the fact that human emotions were WAY more overwhelming than elvin emotions.

He'd figured they would be-and thought he'd mentally prepared for the onslaught.

But whoa.

This was a thousand times worse than when he woke up in the Healing Center after surviving his mom's lovely experiment.

Every possible sensation kept punching his senses over and over and over, like he was caught in the middle of a fistfight with a bunch of angry ogres.

Sharp irritation. Tingly joy. Burning frustration. Itchy impatience. Sour regret. Warm affection. Bubbly glee-plus a zillion other zings and zaps and prickles and pains mixed with a ton of loud noises and weird smells.

It made him want to claw at his skin and tear at his hair and cough and sneeze and barf up everything in his stomach.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around his waist and tried sucking in a deep breath.

Didn't help.

Neither did squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears-which also didn't fit with the whole "blending in" thing he was supposed to be going for.

He pried his eyes open and tried to focus.

The too-bright sunlight washed everything to a blur, but when he squinted, he could make out a stretch of desert and a few triangular structures. Keefe was pretty sure they were the pyramids he'd learned about in elvin history-the ones the elves helped the humans build back in the days when elves and humans were trying to be the bestest of buddies.

The buildings looked old and crumbly now-but that didn't seem to bother the huge crowd that had gathered in the sweltering heat, mostly to record themselves pretending to balance the pyramids on their heads, for some bizarre reason.

They were also talking.

And laughing.

And feeling.

So. Many. Feelings.

Too many.

It was too much.

The pressure in Keefe's brain kept building and building and building-but that wasn't nearly as terrifying as the word taking shape in the back of his throat.

A heavy lump he couldn't choke down but refused to spit out.

He didn't know what the word was-but he knew if he said it, his misery would vanish.

Everything would be perfectly calm and blissfully quiet and...

Seriously creepy.

Keefe locked his jaw and shook his head, trying to knock the word loose.

When that didn't work, he replayed his memories of the day he'd given his first command.

The way everyone stood frozen with their mouths dropped open, with dull, unblinking eyes.

Empty shells of the people he cared about.

He'd barely found a way to snap them out of it-and he had no idea if he'd be able to fix that kind of mess again.

Especially with humans, who didn't have any mental defenses.

He tried picturing that, too.

All the innocent people around him, frozen like a bunch of sweaty statues.

Grown-ups.

Kids.

Even a few tiny babies.

The lump in his throat deflated with the image-but it sprang right back when a group wearing shirts that said EASTLAKE HIGH SCHOOL! GO, FIGHTING LLAMAS! blasted him with a hurricane of nauseating angst.

Time to move.<