Bethany travels to a new fictional world to rescue her father in this third book in the New York Times bestselling series, Story Thieves — which was called a “fast-paced, action-packed tale” by School Library Journal— from the author of the Half Upon a Time trilogy. Owen and Bethany have sworn off jumping into books for good. But they didn’t make any promises about not jumping through strange portals that lead to a comic book world. Jupiter City was once filled with brightly costumed superheroes and villains, but nowadays, there’s nothing left but the Dark. Even the villains are terrified of the Dark’s shadows, and most of the heroes have either disappeared or been lost to mind control. The one hero who might have stopped all of this, Doc Twilight, has been imprisoned by the Dark. But who is Doc Twilight really? And how can Bethany and Owen defeat the Dark without superpowers of their own? They’ll definitely need the help of some old friends and new allies to bring the light back to Jupiter City, and find out the truth behind the Dark. It all comes back to Bethany’s own secret origins. What really happened when her fictional father disappeared years ago? Who is Nobody, and why is he writing these Story Thieves books? And what kind of supervillain name is The Rotten Banana? Gr 4–6—Bethany and Owen have sworn not to go into the fictional world anymore. It is dangerous, and the evil Nobody, the man without a face, has threatened them if they come back. But when Bethany discovers a mysterious man watching her house, she is determined to track him down and find out why. And she just needs a few tools from the fictional world to help her. When Bethany and Owen arrive at the man's house, they find a portal into a comic book world and several superheroes and supervillains, one of whom just might be Bethany's dad. Riley doesn't disappoint in this thrilling continuation of the series. VERDICT Full of pithy puns, plays on words, and lots of action, this latest installment is sure to please fans.—Terry Ann Lawler, Burton Barr Library, Phoenix James Riley lives in Virginia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the Half Upon a Time, Story Thieves, Revenge of Magic, and Once Upon Another Time series. Secret Origins CHAPTER 1 The evil King of All Stories held his enormous eraser to Bethany’s head as she tried to escape. “It’s too late, heroes!” the king told Owen, Kiel, and Charm. “There’s nothing you can do! Now I’ll erase the parts of Bethany’s life story that make her a good person, thereby turning her into my evil minion. Then, together, we’ll invade the nonfictional world and rule everything!” “Let her go!” Owen shouted. “Or you won’t like what comes next.” The evil King of All Stories sneered. “You? The nonfictional hero who’s saved the fictional world more times than I can count? You have no power here, boy.” “Don’t I?” Owen took out paper and a pencil and began writing. The King of All Stories drops his eraser. The king’s eraser immediately dropped out of his hand. “What?” the king shouted in amazement. “But how?” “Through the power of words!” Owen shouted. “Books are magical, and so is writing!” He wrote something else on the paper. The King of All Stories lets Bethany go, then trips on his own feet. The king let go of Bethany, then spectacularly wiped out on his next step, doing a front flip before landing hard on his back. The Crown of Stories fell off his head and rolled a few feet away. The Crown of Stories appears on Owen’s head, Owen wrote. Immediately, the crown disappeared from the ground, then reappeared on Owen’s head. It was exactly the right size, as if it were made for him all along. “No!” the former king shouted from the ground. “You can’t do this to me. This is all I had!” “Not true,” Owen said, turning to his former archenemy. “This isn’t you, Your Majesty. You’re not meant to be evil. Someone’s rewritten your story, just as you tried to do for Bethany.” “I’m not?” the former king said. “Then what was I meant to be?” “A father,” Owen said quietly, then wrote something on his paper. The former King of All Stories turns back into his real self. Instantly a bright light filled the room, then spread out over the entire Kingdom of Stories, blinding anyone who happened to be looking at the castle at that moment. The light enveloped the former king, raising him into the air in a completely awesome way. The light became too bright to look at, and they all covered their eyes except Owen, who wrote himself sunglasses that made him look even cooler. Then abruptly, the light disappeared and everything went dark. “Looks like this story,” Owen said, pulling off his sunglasses, “just started a new chapter.” Bethany slowly stepped past Owen, her eyes on the figure on the ground. The former king was no longer dressed in royal robes. Now he wore normal clothes, and his hair had turned the same shade as Bethany’s, a bronzish red. The man shook his