The world seemed to dip and darken and I smelled wet earth and thick musk and fresh blood. The wind whipped past, like I was running. Running so fast the ground whizzed beneath me and the wind cut across my skin ...Maya Delaney has always felt a close bond with nature. The woods around her home are a much-loved sanctuary - and the pawprint birthmark on her hip feels like a sign that she belongs. But then strange and terrible things begin to happen in the tiny medical-research town of Salmon Creek (population: 200). The captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Mountain lions appear around Maya's home, and won't go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts experiencing 'bad vibes' about certain people and things. One of those people is Rafe - the new bad boy in town. What is he hiding - and why is he suddenly so interested in Maya ...?

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the sign of what she truly is - a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly anyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents including local bad boy Rafe, with whom she shares a dangerous, powerful secret. Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. After a terrifying helicopter crash, they find themselves stranded in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home. But can Maya really trust her friends? And can she learn how to control the frightening new gift she has discovered before it controls her?

'Maya and her friends turn and fight in this final volume of the Darkness Rising trilogy. Fans will savour the many cinematic moments.' - Booklist'Comfortably mixing science, myth, and mystery, Armstrong creates a vivid world highlighted by appealing characters. Fans and newcomers alike will be eager for more after Armstrong's story drives to its pulse-pounding climax.' - Publishers WeeklyMaya Delaney is a skin-walker - a supernatural who can Shift into the shape of a cougar. But just as she learns this extraordinary truth about herself, she also discovers that Shifting comes with a terrible cost. With every transformation, a skin-walker loses touch with their human nature - and in time can lose their identity and their very sense of being human. Maya and her friends have been running from the people who experimented on them and created them as supernaturals. But now they realise they must confront their enemies if they are ever to have a future. Maya will need to use her powers in order to succeed - but the price of freedom could be too high a cost to pay...The gripping conclusion to the new Darkness Rising YA trilogy from bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.Books by Kelley Armstrong:Women of the Otherworld seriesBittenStolenDime Store MagicIndustrial MagicHauntedBrokenNo Humans InvolvedPersonal DemonLiving with the DeadFrost BittenWalking the WitchSpellboundThirteenNadia StaffordExit StrategyMade to be BrokenWild JusticeRocktonCity of the LostA Darkness AbsoluteThis Fallen PreyWatcher in the WoodsAlone in the WildDarkest PowersThe SummoningThe AwakeningThe ReckoningOtherworld TalesMen of the OtherworldTales of the OtherworldOtherworld NightsOtherworld SecretsOtherworld ChillsDarkness RisingThe GatheringThe CallingThe RisingCainsvilleOmensVisionsDeceptionsBetrayalsRituals

The world seemed to dip and darken and I smelled wet earth and thick musk and fresh blood. The wind whipped past, like I was running. Running so fast the ground whizzed beneath me and the wind cut across my skin ...Maya Delaney has always felt a close bond with nature. The woods around her home are a much-loved sanctuary - and the pawprint birthmark on her hip feels like a sign that she belongs. But then strange and terrible things begin to happen in the tiny medical-research town of Salmon Creek (population: 200). The captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Mountain lions appear around Maya's home, and won't go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts experiencing 'bad vibes' about certain people and things. One of those people is Rafe - the new bad boy in town. What is he hiding - and why is he suddenly so interested in Maya ...?

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the sign of what she truly is - a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly anyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents including local bad boy Rafe, with whom she shares a dangerous, powerful secret. Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. After a terrifying helicopter crash, they find themselves stranded in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home. But can Maya really trust her friends? And can she learn how to control the frightening new gift she has discovered before it controls her?

'Maya and her friends turn and fight in this final volume of the Darkness Rising trilogy. Fans will savour the many cinematic moments.' - Booklist'Comfortably mixing science, myth, and mystery, Armstrong creates a vivid world highlighted by appealing characters. Fans and newcomers alike will be eager for more after Armstrong's story drives to its pulse-pounding climax.' - Publishers WeeklyMaya Delaney is a skin-walker - a supernatural who can Shift into the shape of a cougar. But just as she learns this extraordinary truth about herself, she also discovers that Shifting comes with a terrible cost. With every transformation, a skin-walker loses touch with their human nature - and in time can lose their identity and their very sense of being human. Maya and her friends have been running from the people who experimented on them and created them as supernaturals. But now they realise they must confront their enemies if they are ever to have a future. Maya will need to use her powers in order to succeed - but the price of freedom could be too high a cost to pay...The gripping conclusion to the new Darkness Rising YA trilogy from bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.Books by Kelley Armstrong:Women of the Otherworld seriesBittenStolenDime Store MagicIndustrial MagicHauntedBrokenNo Humans InvolvedPersonal DemonLiving with the DeadFrost BittenWalking the WitchSpellboundThirteenNadia StaffordExit StrategyMade to be BrokenWild JusticeRocktonCity of the LostA Darkness AbsoluteThis Fallen PreyWatcher in the WoodsAlone in the WildDarkest PowersThe SummoningThe AwakeningThe ReckoningOtherworld TalesMen of the OtherworldTales of the OtherworldOtherworld NightsOtherworld SecretsOtherworld ChillsDarkness RisingThe GatheringThe CallingThe RisingCainsvilleOmensVisionsDeceptionsBetrayalsRituals