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Paranormal attacks are on the rise and the slayers are peeved. It's double the workload, their anonymous funding will be cut if they can't do their job and it's not like anyone thanks them anyway. Jackie's more worried about her own position as apprentice, especially when she makes the mistake of leaving a witness. To make it worse he now seems to be stalking her.

Twelve-year-old Carmen has a secret: she can talk to her cat Grim. But the powerful Brotherhood has banned pets, and the penalty is death. Her only chance to save Grim is to seek out the strange old man who lives in the haunted Old City. Ward is the most wanted boy in the world. The only thing standing between him and the hangman's noose is master criminal Saint Nick. In exchange for Nick's protection, Ward must find the long-lost horn said to have the power to wake legendary beings known as the Sleepers, whom Nick believes can aid him in his guerilla war against the Brotherhood. This leads Ward to Carmen, whose family has a long and mysterious association with the fabled horn. Ward and Carmen are soon hot on the trail of the horn. But the Brotherhood are closing in on Carmen's family. Ward and Carmen soon realise that waking the Sleepers may be the only thing that can save Carmen's parents from certain death. If only they knew how. FOR READERS WHO LIKED Scarlett & Browne - Jonathan Stroud Fly By Night - Frances Hardinge His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman