Aided by the Knights Templar, the four young Grey Griffins face a host of evil forces, including Morgan LaFey's Black Wolves, who kidnap Max's father while the quartet is spending what at first seemed a fairytale Christmas break at the Sumner's castle in Scotland.

Grieving for the recent death of his beloved father and appalled by his mother's quick remarriage to his uncle, Hamlet, heir to the Danish throne, struggles with conflicting emotions, particularly after his father's ghost appeals to him to avenge his death.

The citizens of Chester's Mill, Maine, find their relationships strained and lives in danger after an inexplicable force field develops around the town, cutting it off from the outside world and resulting in a power struggle between local politician and drug lord Big Jim Rennie, who enjoys the idea of dominating an isolated populace, and people who disagree with Jim and want to investigate the origins of the dome.

Raskolnikov, a former Russian student, murders an old pawnbroker and her sister. The subsequent guilt with which he struggles results in a tragedy of tension and terror.

Maria lives in Cuba during the mid-twentieth century and allows Ignacio, a strong-willed business man, to provide for her while she shares a passionate love affair with Nestor, a poor musician; meanwhile, Maria's daughter Teresa grows up in the United States.

When their beloved nanny disappears and their father is imprisoned for her alleged murder, Titus, Pandora, and Damp become increasingly gloomy until mysterious signs and messages that may help them resolve their terrible dilemma begin to appear around their Scottish castle home.

Truth Blackburn's father disappeared and her mother was killed thirty years ago during one of the magical rituals at Shadow's Gate. Now Truth is looking for answers about her parents and her father's followers are preparing to perform the same ritual.

Jimmy Luntz, a compulsive gambler, owes money to Juarez, who tracks Jimmy down in Bakersfield, California, and sends Gambol to collect, but in a lucky break, Jimmy escapes and runs into Anita Desilvera, a femme fatale who is plotting to steal the millions of dollars she has been accused of embezzling.

Colorado psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory's already tense personal and professional relationships become even more strained when Michael McClelland, the man convicted of raping and murdering Gregory's sister, escapes from the mental institution in which he was incarcerated and comes looking for the people he blames for putting him away.

Nobel laureate Gregory North Hazelius and his team of scientists prepare to test the world's largest supercollider in the hopes of proving what happened at the first moment of creation, despite the objections of religious fanatics, who fear they will disprove the existence of God, and government officials, who hope to use the team's research to create a super weapon that could destroy the earth.