LEGACY OF THE CLAW

This middle-grade fantasy is set in a world in in which every young person is expected to have an “Animas,” or animal bond, upon reaching puberty. The hero, Bailey, is the only boy at his academy who does not yet have an Animas, until he’s called deep into the forest and sees one of the last remaining white tigers. Their bond sets off a tale in which Bailey becomes a hero fulfilling a grand prophecy.

To twelve-year-old Bailey Walker, kin means more than just family. It means being a part of the Animas bond, a harmonious link that connects humans and animals, and guides everything in his world. But Bailey hasn't found his kin yet, and without an Animas, he's destined to be an outsider-or worse, lose his mind entirely. So when he's accepted into the prestigious Fairmount Academy, he's determined to Awaken to his Animas once and for all, even if it's a measly worm. But once there, Bailey can't resist the pull of the dark mysteries surrounding the kingdom. A bear has been viciously attacked on school grounds, and when he and his friends discover signs of a ferocious predator in the woods surrounding campus, he knows something's out there, something dangerous. And Fairmount isn't the only place where darkness is brewing. In the capital city, a new leader preaches that humans must assert power over their kin, enslave them instead of living as one. Bailey can't shake the feeling that the root of the unrest, and the key to his Awakening, lies in an old riddle entwined around an even older prophecy-a prophecy that may reveal the truth about the rightful king of Aldermere. And Bailey may be the only one who can unravel them. The capital's dark forces will stop at nothing to prevent the prophecy from coming true. If they succeed, the Animas bond will be in peril. Can Bailey help protect the Animas bond while still trying to awaken to his own? In this first installment of the gripping ANIMAS series, the battle is just beginning.

C.R. Grey was born in a house on a pier in Maine—literally on the ocean. She then grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. She received her BA in Theatre from SUNY New Paltz and her MFA in Fiction from Ohio State University. Grey lives in a sunny apartment in Poughkeepsie, New York, with one black cat, one white cat, and a Boston Terrier named Trudy. She can often be found weeding through ephemera in antique shops and walking over the bridges that span the Hudson River.