After finding a cursed phone in an abandoned mall, a twelve-year-old boy must face his worst fears to stop an evil online spirit from possessing everyone in the world.
Esau "S" Bryant is a twelve-year-old boy desperate to become an influencer to help his family. And when he finds a strange phone in an abandoned mall, it seems he finally got a lucky break, until he realizes his new mobile device is cursed.
Now he will have to face his worst fears and fight an online evil spirit to save himself, his family, and—the world.
Join Esau and his friends as they go on incredible adventures involving a haunted phone, demonic possessions, and an internet troll with a wicked sense of humor!
Excerpt
Are you sure you are the real you?
Wait. That makes no sense unless I start from the beginning.
Let’s try again.
When there’s a storm, grown-ups say you should remain calm, stay inside and keep away from windows (as if that can protect you from the screams in the sky).
Creepy. I know.
“Let’s go to C.J.’s,” I told Jake, my twin brother.
“No!”
“Why?”
“I’m allergic to cashews.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying you’re nuts, Esau!”
“Ha, freaking ha,” I said. “Look outside!” A thunderstorm was wreaking havoc in our small town. “Eleven-year-olds shouldn’t be alone when the world is ending.”
“Not alone. We have each other,” Jake said.
“That’s like being alone with myself,” I scoffed. “Who wants that?”
“I’ll give you a hand.” He started unplugging appliances in the family room.
“Watch out!” I pushed him out of harm’s way as the stormy wind blasted a window open and knocked over one of his trophies, almost hitting him in the head. How could he be so careless? Mom would die if he got hurt!
After I locked the window, a hair-raising burst of green light startled me. And then we heard what sounded like an angry giant shrieking in the clouds. We covered our ears until it stopped. I didn’t know how long it lasted, but it felt longer than a Social Studies class. And that’s saying something.
Jake’s face turned white. “What’s happening?”
For a second, I wondered if I looked that scared too. I mean, we are twins, after all: we both have jet-black hair, bright green eyes, and skinny legs. People would mix us up twenty-four seven if he didn’t need glasses or if I didn’t wear a different baseball cap for every occasion.
I hate to admit it, but we are identical copies of each other, except that I am me, and he’s like the next Mozart or whatever. He even played a solo cello piece at the last school concert.
“Grab the phone!” I shouted. “Maybe Mom will call.” I’d never wished I owned an iPhone so badly before.
Then the power went out, and a tree branch shattered the dining-room window into a gazillion pieces. We both screamed. By that point, all I cared about was getting us to safety.
“We need to take shelter!”
After we made it to the basement, I tried closing the door behind us, but the gale coming through the broken window was too strong.
“I’ll help!”
“No,” I said. “I’ve got this.”
In my mind, what happened next played out in slow motion. Jake reached for the doorknob as a gust of wind burst the door open, striking us both. I held on tight to the banister, but my brother wasn’t so lucky; he rolled down like a boulder and knocked over a big stack of cartons at the bottom of the stairs.
“Jake! You okay?”
He wasn’t. We weren’t. Jake leaned forward for a hug, but I gently made him keep his broken arm close to his chest. After that, we stayed paralyzed near the furnace, listening to the mean voices raging in the wind.
And I wish I could say those chilling whispers were the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.
But they were only the beginning.
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