Shards of Excalibur

Ariane's life is complicated. Her mother suddenly disappeared two and a half years ago, she's trying to get used to living with her aunt after bouncing around a series of foster homes, and she's taking a lot of grief from the clique of "in" girls at school. To make matters even worse, now she's having strange dreams involving swords and knights and battles, and things seem to get weird whenever she touches water. Next thing she knows, she's been sent on a quest to find the five scattered shards of Excalibur.

Having saved the first Shard of the sword Excalibur from Internet mogul Rex Major (aka Merlin), Ariane and Wally are on the lookout for the second. Wally is worried that the power of the first Shard is already changing Ariane, giving her the strength to do good and evil, and when she badly injures his bullying sister, Flish, it seems he’s right.

Ariane is on her own and on the run. Rex Major has swayed her erstwhile best friend Wally to his side. And when she finally hears the faint call of the third Shard of Excalibur, it’s on the other side of the world, in New Zealand! Wally, meanwhile, is discovering that life as Major’s “guest” isn’t all it promised, especially when he finds out Major’s plans for Ariane’s aunt. With Aunt Phyllis under threat, Ariane has no choice but to walk directly into Rex’s trap - and hope she can find a way to protect both the Shard and those she loves.

The fourth shard of Excalibur might come with a price Ariane doesn’t want to pay: her mother. Thanks to Wally, Ariane knows her mother is alive - and that Rex Major is trying to find her. If he succeeds, Ariane fears she’ll have no choice but to surrender the two shards she and Wally possess, because she’ll do anything - and give up everything - to have her mother back with her again.

In the climactic fifth book of the Shards of Excalibur, Ariane, Wally, Flish, and Rex Major are on a collision course, converging on the resting place of the final piece of the sword: the hilt, long ago removed from its original hiding place by the descendants of King Arthur. When Wally uncovers its surprising location, far closer to hand than they’d ever guessed, it seems all Ariane and Wally have to do is claim it and reforge the sword to defeat Merlin forever. Except…how, exactly, do you reforge a magical sword?