Escaping from a troubled home and struggling to survive on the streets, the abandoned tunnels of the London Underground are a perfect sanctuary for Kai. Along with other teenagers running from their pasts, he finds somewhere to belong in this strange community of outcasts.

But Kai is now facing a very different kind of fight. Every night, led by the enigmatic Spartacus, the runaways must become cage fighters, each fight broadcast to the outside world via YouTube. With pay-per-view profits racking up, Kai and his friends hope to be able to start a new life.

Yet treachery and danger are never far behind, and a new arrival threatens the order that Spartacus has worked so carefully to maintain. And then there is the looming finale, the last battle between Kai and his nemesis Leo: the Kill Fight . . .

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“As Rob helped Millie over the wall, he couldn’t resist taking a final glance back at the house.
Again – from the end attic window . . . a flash of white.
Rob’s breath caught in his throat. Then he laughed
at himself. It would be a gull nesting on the windowsill. Not a ghost.
There were no such things as ghosts…”

Rob and Millie’s father goes missing in action while serving at the front during the First World War. The children desperately search the hospital trains returning to Edinburgh with the wounded. But there’s no sign of him.

An abandoned building deep in the woods is suddenly full of doctors treating soldiers with shellshock – but after Rob and Millie overhear a suspicious conversation they decide to uncover what is really going on at this new hospital. Who is the ghostly figure the children spy looking out of one of the top windows? And will their beloved father ever return to them alive?

‘If a WWI story can be lovely, this is it. Lots of brave acts from lots of people, and much kindness.’
THE BOOKWITCH

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Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers of 12+.

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In the second story, Kezzie and Lucy are reunited with Grandad in Clydebank. The Second World War breaks out, and the family spirit is put to the test. Kezzie’s strength is needed by so many – she must save an Italian family from the racial hatred they encounter, and rescue her old school friend Peg. As Clydebank is bombed and becomes a burning inferno, will Kezzie be strong enough to turn a tragedy into a triumph?

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Cy’s powerful imagination means that he can zap through Time and Space to really live his dreams. But dreams aren’t easy to control – even with the help of a crabby Dream Master!

So it’s a Thousand and One Types of Trouble when Cy accidentally draws a famed Arabian Princess into his world. Soon she’s causing havoc, summoning terrifying creatures, and hurtling into Cy’s school on her magical flying carpet. But there’s even more trouble to come when the Princess learns that a TV talent competition is coming to town and she’s determined to enter…

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Every dream has a Dream Master – to control the dream. But Cy has such a vivid imagination that he has met his Dream Master and can travel with him through Time and Space to live his dreams.

It’s Triple Trouble Time, though, when Cy begins a school project on volcanoes. His head is filled with images of the eruption of Vesuvius near Pompeii and suddenly Cy and his Dream Master find themselves held captive in the time of the Romans. Helpless in the doomed city on the eve of its terrible destruction, Cy discovers that captured prisoners must fight for their lives as gladiators…

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Every dream needs a master – someone in charge, just like someone telling a story. But when Cy has a go at running his own dream, everything goes horribly wrong. Suddenly Viking invaders are burning down a village, chasing after him with huge axes – and a bossy Saxon princess thinks he is a useless swineherd. His dream is out of control!

Only Cy can sort it out. It’s his dream, his story. And if he fails the bloodthirsty barbarians in his dream could burst through into real life…

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This title is part of the Longman Book Project. The book contains Teaching Focus notes with expansion exercises on text (character, plotting) sentences (e.g. reported speech) and word usage.

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There are good dreams and there are rotten dreams, and once they’re over, they’re over. Or are they?… For one morning, as Cy is about to wake up from a terrific dream about Ancient Egypt, he discovers that he can get back into his dream world. There’s just one problem: the Dream Master, who isn’t used to stroppy boys standing up to him and wanting to break all the rules. And as Cy moves back and forth between the present day and the land of the pharaohs – sorting out all kinds of problems with schoolwork and bullies – dream life and real life become ingeniously intertwined!

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