World So Close

"Find what no one else can find, in a world that only you and your best friend can see." Jayden Blue spends his mornings trying to sneak out of the house before Hex and Halo can pounce on him. His best friend, Raylene Hawkins, who lives next door, always waits with him on his porch for the school bus to pick them up. One morning, he notices something no one else does: nobody seems able to see that they're all missing part of the world. Or maybe it's another world? Whatever it is, no one can even talk about it-not even him. While dreading having to give a report in front of his English class, Jayden also finds a passageway to a place he'd never imagined could exist. With the help of Hex and Halo, Jayden and Raylene explore that world, one very close but still, unseen by anyone else. And in that world, he finds something. Something waiting there just for him. And it's just what he needs.

Jayden Blue's cats, Hex and Halo, have found a new game to play every morning before school: hide and seek. Sometimes, Jayden's best friend, Raylene Hawkins, who lives right next door, helps Jayden find them, and she always waits on his porch with him for the school bus. They still can't look in the direction of the World So Close, and they can't even talk about it. Raylene suggests that they call it "where the crow flies" because the crow's flight showed Jayden that something just wasn't right. In school, Jayden is facing the prospect of having to run a race on Friday. Morton, who's a very good runner, has decided that taunting Jayden is a good idea, and he might be hoping to impress Raylene. Can Jayden learn to enjoy running? Can he possibly even win the race? The secret awaits him in the world that he and Raylene, along with Hex and Halo, continue to explore. There, the crow has an important message for him, and Jayden understands the call of the crow's wings. Running, for him, is never the same.

Hex and Halo, Jayden Blue's cats, have decided that they're no longer interested in simple games of hide and seek with him before school. No, they've cooked up an entirely new game. His best friend and next door neighbor, Raylene Hawkins, helps when she can, and she always waits with him on his porch for the school bus. The passageway to their World So Close has again become something entirely different. And though they've found a way to sort of cheat and talk about their adventures in that world, they still can't look in that direction. No one can. Well, maybe just Hex and Halo . . . Jayden is basking in the admiration and envy of many of his classmates after he handled Tommy's teasing and nearly beat Morton in the race. With so much encouragement, he decides to sign up to audition for a role in an upcoming play. Only after committing to that does he begin to wonder if he could do it. Could he act on stage in front of an audience? He and Raylene can't help but follow after the giant cats in the world they continue to explore. They dare to pass through a dark forest that appears as solid as a wall and on the other side, they're welcomed into The Lair of the Iron Lions. And those lions, though fierce and fearless, are also in need of help from Jayden and Raylene.

In this final book of the series, Jayden Blue and Raylene Hawkins know that they have learned from their harrowing experiences in the Forest of Night Fallen, and they're ready to journey again to the mountain of Val ka'Yoom. They don't know exactly how they'll help with the conflict between all of the iron lions and the Val, but they know that it's time to try again.Through every twist and turn of their adventure, everyone tells them that they must hurry-no time to wait! And no one can tell them exactly why. When they're finally returning to the Lair of the Iron Lions, after having completed their mission, they want only two things: to get Hex and Halo back and to return home.Standing on the trail that winds through the wildflower fields, they all see the sun setting and feel that world growing cold. Jayden and Raylene are told by the iron lions that they can return someday-they'll know when. That sun, the giant cats say, will wait for them in A World So Close.

The Nebraska sky unleashes endless snowflakes just as the bus squeals to a stop. Their last day of school before the winter break has just ended, and Jayden Blue and Raylene Hawkins begin the welcome vacation by leaping over all of the bus's steps down to the walkway, much to the chagrin of the patient driver.Raylene's Christmas tree is already set up and ready to go, but Jayden's is still scattered throughout their garage in cardboard boxes. Mr. and Mrs. Blue have been too busy all week, but the entire family plans to have a good dinner, ignore the blizzard with the help of hot chocolate, and team up on the decorating.Jayden's cats, Hex and Halo, are having their own kind of fun. Or are they? Could he just be imagining their odd antics? But they share his surprise when he unwraps an unexpected present-the last one that he opens on Christmas morning. It's a gift that he might never have imagined. But it's just the gift that he needed.