Fast-paced to keep kids engaged. A Secret Shortcut. Magical Armor. A Race Through Time. Twelve-year-old Raffi thought his biggest problem was surviving another unwanted karate lesson. He was wrong. When his eccentric Grandpa Silas abandons their truck and plunges into a hidden path deep in the Sunken woods, Raffi is pulled into the Veiled Grove —a world where beauty hides danger, and shadows seem alive. Armed with a flickering Time Orb and a suit of charcoal-gray armor that responds to his thoughts, Raffi must face impossible trials: The River of Time , where one wrong step means falling forever - The Vault of Echoes , where silence is the only defense - The Hall of Mirrors , where memories can be turned into weapons But a powerful enemy—the Shadow King —is watching from his floating fortress in the Void of Sighs, determined to claim the Orb at any cost. As Grandpa’s secrets unravel and betrayal lurks closer than Raffi expects, he must learn the mysterious Karate of the Mind before time runs out. One jump could save them. One wrong step could trap them in the shadows forever.