The Silverwood Clan were the stewards of time maintenance and repair for centuries. Now the Council, bureaucrats who seized that power for themselves, are making a mess of it. Ancient shape-shifting human-hunting creatures are having a field day taking advantage of the situation. Can 14-year-old Helen Silverwood and her family reunite, get a grip on talents they don’t necessarily understand or control, and somehow get one step ahead of the Council and the shape-shifters?

Book 1: Silverwood

Helen Silverwood, her younger brother Henry, and their mom have moved – for the millionth time. They are running from something, Helen is sure, but she has no idea what that might be. An unknown visitor with a message, followed by a narrow escape, send them on the road to the remote town of Brokeneck – where maybe, they might find Helen’s father. Or maybe that is a lie.

Brokeneck is populated with residents who seem eccentric and out of touch with reality, but who might be wiser than they look. They are wary of the nearby lake where people have started disappearing – again. And at least one of them is expecting the Silverwoods’ arrival.

Part I

  • Silverwood: Chapter 1
    Helen Silverwood, fourteen, sat on the roof with her legs dangling over. There were about twenty-two stories between the bottoms of her boots and the sidewalk below.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 2
    The bounty hunter was late for work.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 3
    One thing that I can tell you with absolute certainty: It is not a good feeling to be extinct.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 4
    “Helen?” Henry said. He tapped his foot on the floor. He crossed his arms. He uncrossed his arms. He sighed loudly.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 5
    According to the family stories, Helen’s grandmother was a person who possessed a superhuman ability to make just about anything out of the parts of just about anything else.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 6
    Doctor Julius Dinkle, esteemed member of the Council of Portals and renowned expert on Tromindox behavior and culture, was tense.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 7
    The chamber of the Council of Portals was abuzz with anxious voices talking over one another. Doctor Dinkle was not present.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 8
    One of the customary functions of the one main street in Brokeneck was as a meeting place, and it was also the custom for everyone with an overlooking window to spy on whoever was doing the meeting.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 9
    An oversized and gleaming and black and otherwise featureless car rolled to a stop in front of Building 103.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 10
    Today I found a couple of pictures in the bottom of a box that I’d never seen before.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 11
    Somewhere in the city, the back door of a nightclub swung open into an alley that would be about wide enough to drive a small car through if it weren’t so crowded with dumpsters and junk.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 12
    The school bell rang. Henry followed the flood of students out the front door of the school and down the steps to the city sidewalk.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 13
    Two pairs of feet belonging to Kate and Henry made pong-pong sounds on the metal stairway leading up to their apartment.
  • Silverwood: Chapter 14
    Kate lifted her lucky yellow spatula out of the kitchen drawer.