Alchemy Jones and the Source of Magic

The first book of this epic series introduces readers to the newest hero of young-adult fantasy—twelve-year-old Alchemy Jones. Science professor Wally Fargle, affectionately known as O' Gray One to his students, takes the new pupil Zachary Jones—whose resemblance to an overgrown leprechaun brings an onslaught of teasing from other students—under his wing at Da Vinci's Middle School for Achievers in Salem, Massachusetts. Highly gifted in science, Zack proves to be everything the professor hopes, or more importantly, the shadowy League of Imaginary Scientists which Wally belongs, hopes for. Unbeknownst to Wally, there is a secret tied to the boy with the blood-red hair, an arcane one that begins to manifest in his classroom science experiments.

Things escalate when the boy's parents mysteriously disappear and an odd-ball pair of Irish grandparents shows up—who Zack believed to be dead—with even stranger pets in tow. Suddenly Zack, his close friend Penny (great-great-great granddaughter of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane), and Wally are propelled into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with ancient and dark forces in a heroic story of magic, deceit, and world domination. As the stakes grow more desperate, readers find Zack introduced to his rich and wondrous magical heritage at Dragonbane—on the flip side of reality—where he soon discovers himself in ways he could never have imagined.