The Awakening (Darkest Powers)

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—When Chloe Saunders escapes from a group home for troubled teens, she has no idea that she'll be dealing with a treacherous aunt; a nascent werewolf; a prissy witch; guns, guards, and ghosts; and the harsh everyday realities of being a teen on the run. She'd come to terms with the fact that the home was obviously not your run-of-the-mill state facility, or she wouldn't have discovered her powers as a necromancer or found the witch, Tori; the warlock, Simon; and the werewolf, Derek, also in residence. Now the four of them and the ghost of the recently deceased telekinetic Liz, are trying to find the one adult who can help them. Things are complicated by Simon's diabetes, Derek's imminent transformation, and Tori, who, despite her magical powers, is best described by a different word, which rhymes with witch. Armstrong does an admirable job of walking the fine line between making things too easy for the group and putting unnecessary obstacles in their path. Separating them from the adults, she delves into character and relationships among the teens, giving this title a depth that some supernatural fare lacks. It is easy to read out of sequence, and even surpasses its predecessor, The Summoning (HarperCollins, 2008). If you buy it, teens will read it.—Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, formerly at New York Public Library END

From Booklist

Chloe’s a teenager who likes Simon, but maybe likes Derek, and definitely hates Tori, who crushes on Simon, who kind of cares for Chloe. Sounds pretty typical. Except that Chloe’s a necromancer, Derek’s a werewolf, and Simon and Tori are sorcerers. Following The Summoning (2008), this book in the Darkest Powers series has the teens on the run from a shady organization whose murky involvement with their manifesting powers is unclear, but definitely not for their betterment. There’s nothing terribly original here, but Armstrong has some fun toying with supernatural teen thriller conventions, and the taut pacing should please fans of the exploding genre. Grades 7-10. --Ian Chipman

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“A page-turner. Readers will anticipate the book to follow.”

ALA Booklist

“Armstrong has some fun toying with supernatural teen thriller conventions, and the taut pacing should please fans of the exploding genre.”

From the Back Cover

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The AwakeningBy Kelley ArmstrongHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Copyright © 2009 Kelley ArmstrongAll right reserved.ISBN: 9780061662768Chapter OneWhen the door to my cell clicked open, the first thought that flitted through my doped-up brain was that Liz had changed her mind and come back. But ghosts don't open doors. They will, on occasion, ask me to open one, so I can raise and interrogate the zombies of supernaturals killed by a mad scientist, but they never need one opened for themselves.I sat up in bed and rubbed my bleary eyes, blinking away the lingering fog of the sedative. For a moment, the door stayed open only a crack. I slid from the bed, tiptoeing across the thick carpet of my fake hotel room, praying the person on the other side had been called away and I could escape before these people started whatever experiments they'd brought me here to—"Hello, Chloe." Dr. Davidoff beamed his best kindly-old-man smile as he pushed the door wide. He wasn't that old—maybe fifty—but in a movie, I'd cast him as the doddering absentminded scientist. It was an act I'm sure he'd worked on until he got it just right.The woman behind him had chic blond hair and a New York suit. I'd cast her as the mother of the nastiest girl in class. Which was cheating, because that's exactly who she was. Mother of Victoria—Tori—Enright, the one housemate we'd left out of our plans when we'd escaped from Lyle House, and for good cause, considering she was one of the reasons I'd needed to escape. Tori's mom carried a Macy's bag, like she'd just been out shopping and popped in to conduct a few horrific experiments before heading to lunch."I know you have a lot of questions, Chloe," Dr. Davidoff said as I sat on the edge of the bed. "We're here to answer them for you. We just need a little help from you first.""Simon and Derek," Mrs. Enright said. "Where are they?"I looked from her to Dr. Davidoff, who smiled and nodded encouragingly, like he fully expected me to turn in my friends.I'd never been an angry kid. I'd never run away from home. Never stamped my feet and screamed that life was unfair and I wished I'd never been born. Whenever my dad told me we were moving again and I needed to transfer schools, I'd swallowed a whiny "but I just made new friends," nod, and tell him I understood.Accept your lot. Count your blessings. Be a big girl.Now, looking back at a life of doing what I was told, I realized I'd bought into the game. When adults patted me on the head and told me I was so grown-up, what they really meant was that they were glad I wasn't grown-up enough yet to question, to fight back.Looking at Dr. Davidoff and Mrs. Enright, I thought of what they'd done to me—lying to me, locking me up—and I wanted to stamp my feet. Wanted to scream. But I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction.I widened my eyes as I met Mrs. Enright's gaze. "You mean you haven't found them yet?"I think she would have slapped me if Dr. Davidoff hadn't lifted his hand."No, Chloe, we haven't found the boys," he said. "We're very concerned for Simon's safety.""Because you think Derek might hurt him?""Not intentionally, of course. I know Derek's fond of Simon."Fond? What a strange word to use. Derek and Simon were foster brothers, tighter than any blood brothers I knew. Sure, Derek was a werewolf, but that wolf part of him was what would stop him from ever hurting Simon. He'd protect him at all costs—I'd already seen that.My skepticism must have shown on my face, because Dr. Davidoff shook his head, as if disappointed in me. "All right, Chloe. If you can't spare any concern for Simon's safety, maybe you can for his health.""W-what ab-bou—" My stutter cropped up most when I was nervous, and I couldn't let them know they'd struck a nerve. So I tried again, slower now. "What about his health?""His condition."Apparently I wasn't the only one who watched too many movies. Now they would tell me that Simon had some rare medical condition and if he didn't get his medicine within twelve hours, he'd spontaneously combust."What condition?""He has diabetes," Dr. Davidoff said. "His blood sugar levels need to be monitored and regulated.""With one of those blood testing things?" I said slowly, thinking back. Simon had always disappeared into the bathroom before meals. I'd thought he just liked to wash up. I'd bumped into him once coming out as he'd been shoving a small black case into his pocket. "That's right," Dr. Davidoff said. "With proper care, diabetes is easily managed. You weren't aware of it because you didn't need to be. Simon leads a normal life.""Except for one thing," Tori's mom said.She reached into the Macy's bag and took out a backpack. It looked like Simon's, but I wasn't falling for that—they'd probably bought a matching one. Sure, she pulled out a hoodie I recognized as Simon's, but he'd left behind a whole closet of clothing at Lyle House. Easy enough to grab stuff from there.Next came a pad of paper and pouch of colored pencils. Simon's room was filled with his comic book sketches. Again, easy enough to—Mrs. Enright flipped through the sketch pad, holding up pages. Simon's work in progress. He'd never have left that behind.Finally, she laid a flashlight on the table. The flashlight from Lyle House—the one I'd watched him put into his bag."Simon slipped going over the fence," she said. "He had his backpack over one shoulder. It fell. Our people were right behind him so he had to leave it. There's something in here that Simon needs much more than clothing and art supplies."Continues...Excerpted from The Awakeningby Kelley Armstrong Copyright © 2009 by Kelley Armstrong. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

About the Author

When librarians finally granted Kelley Armstrong an adult card, she made straight for the epic fantasy and horror shelves. She spent the rest of her childhood and teen years happily roaming fantastical and terrible worlds, and vowed that someday she'd write a story combining swords, sorcery, and the ravenous undead. That story began with the New York Times bestselling Sea of Shadows and continues with Empire of Night.Armstrong's first works for teens were the New York Times bestselling Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising trilogies. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children, and far too many pets.

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