Molly’s up against the undead—and the fate of Manhattan is in her hands—in the third and final book of the Dead City trilogy, which Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins says “breathes new life into the zombie genre.” Molly and the Omegas fight to contain the storm unleashed by Operation Blue Moon. As they do, Molly’s personal life is thrown into turmoil when she discovers that one of her closest friends has joined the ranks of the undead, a development that threatens the Omegas as well as Molly’s relationship with her mother. As Molly and her friends battle the Dead Squad (a special NYPD task force made up entirely of zombies), they discover that the world’s largest gold reserve is kept in a vault eighty feet below the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. They find a photograph of the vault’s construction in the 1920s and realize that the construction crew was led by none other than the leader of the undead, Marek Blackwell. Could this explain the source of all his money? And if so, what is he planning to do with it? Is he rebuilding Dead City…or is he building an undead army? James Ponti is the New York Times bestselling author of four middle grade book series: The Sherlock Society following a group of young detectives; City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award lists, and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy–nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando, Florida. Find out more at JamesPonti.com. Dark Days The Hamlet Suite The biggest lie perpetrated by the Christmas card industry has nothing to do with flying reindeer and everything to do with snow. Greeting card snow is festive and fun, but real snow is just cold and annoying. That’s why all the people on the sidewalk were hurrying to get out of it. Well, all of them except for me. “You know we could always wait inside,” Grayson said, pointing toward the lobby with his head so he didn’t have to take his hands out of his pockets. “I hear they’ve got electricity and heat.” “If we go in the lobby, Hector will send us up to the apartment; and I don’t want to go to the apartment without Alex,” I replied. “I want us all to go together. Like a team.” Hector was the doorman in Natalie’s building, and like all good doormen on the Upper West Side he didn’t let you just hang out in his lobby. He kept you moving, especially when the weather was bad. That meant we had two options: stand in the snow and wait for Alex, or go up to Natalie’s apartment and start without him. “Let’s just give him five more minutes,” I said. “If he isn’t here by then, we’ll go anyway.” It was the first time we were visiting Natalie since she’d been released from the hospital. The first time the four of us were going to be alone since the epic failure that was New Year’s Eve, when Marek Blackwell came back from the dead and Natalie wound up in intensive care. Even though I was excited to see her, a part of me was dreading it. I felt responsible for everything that happened and wouldn’t have been surprised if she blamed me too. I was worried that our friendship, which meant everything to me, was about to come to a sudden end. That’s why I wanted to wait for Alex. I needed all the friendly faces I could get. “Is everything all right?” A police officer was asking us. He was tall, over six feet, and had broad shoulders. His name tag said PELL and he was curious as to why Grayson and I didn’t have enough sense to get out of the snow. “We’re fine, officer,” I replied. “We’re just waiting for a friend.” “Well, don’t wait too long or you’ll catch cold,” he said. “Or even worse, your ears might freeze off.” “That would be bad,” I said with a laugh. “I like my ears right where they are.” He gave me a strange look and replied with sudden seriousness, “I’m not joking. Do you have any idea what that looks like?” I traded a bewildered glance with Grayson before I asked, “Do I have any idea what what looks like?” “What it looks like when your ears freeze off?” he said. “It’s terrible. Let me show you.” With no further warning, Officer Pell reached up and peeled his left ear off the side of his head. A pulpy green membrane hung from it as he dangled it in front of my face and started laughing. That’s when I noticed his orange and yellow teeth and realized that in addition to being one of New York’s Finest, he was also one of New York’s Deadest. He was a Level 2 zombie with a twisted sense of humor. I let out a scream and that only mad