York

It was only a few days ago that Tess Biedermann, Theo Biedermann, and Jaime Cruz, along with a mysterious figure from the past, managed to survive an assault on the location of the latest clue in the Morningstarr cipher-and, in the process, made a shocking discovery about their own connection to this one-hundred-sixty-year-old enigma. Now the friends are divided, [with Jaime convinced that Tess and Theo know the meaning of the photograph from Greenwood Cemetery]. As the city continues to break around them, suddenly solving the greatest mystery of the modern world seems less important than saving their own friendship. The stakes of completing the cipher, however, have never been higher. Darnell Slant, the new owner of all the Morningstarr buildings, knows they hold one last prize: a device that even the Morningstarrs themselves never revealed . . . It's up to Tess, Theo, and Jaime to uncover the Morningstarrs' final secret in a desperate attempt [to preserve the world's balance of power]." -- Adapted from jacket.