Chloe and her friends fall-out with the resistance group that previously wanted to help them take down the evil scientists who were experimenting with their magical powers. Chloe is a teenage girl who has the ability to summon the spirits of the dead, a power that she is slowly learning to control. This book is the third book of a trilogy. In the first book (The Summoning) Chloe and some other teens with magical abilities are sent to a place called Lyle House, where teens who are mentally disturbed get treatment. By the end of the first book, Chloe and her friends had discovered that Lyle House is actually run by a scientist called Dr. Davidoff, a man who wants to study their supernatural abilities and find ways to enhance these powers so that he can use the knowledge to enhance the powers of other supernaturals. Dr. Davidoff isn't afraid to cross ethical bounds, however, as he doesn't care if he ends up killing the teens in the process of his experimentation. In the second book (The Awakening), Chloe and her friends successfully escape from Lyle House however they are captured and sent to The Edison Group research centre which is the group of supernaturals that support Dr. Davidoff's research. By the end of the second book, Chloe and her friends have escaped the research center and found a resistance group led by a man named Andrew, who takes them to a safe house where they can rest and heal from their traumatizing experience on the run.
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The Reckoning, which is the last book in the trilogy, begins with Chloe and her fellow friends-with-magical-powers, Tori, Simon and Derek easing into daily life at the safe house. Tori is a witch, Simon is a sorceror and Derek is a werewolf. Andrew, who is also a sorcerer, brings together other members of the resistance group that are working against The Edison Group. They agree that they need to find a way to permanently dismantle The Edison Group and its activities before more harm is done on innocent children. Some of the members are still doubtful, though and their doubts also put Chloe and her friends on edge.
One day, Chloe decides to confront her fears and try to summon her Aunt as this will prove to her once and for all if her Aunt is dead. In the previous book of the trilogy, Chloe's Aunt had helped Chloe and her friends escape from The Edison Group research center, however she ended up being knocked out by another member of The Edison Group so she was not able to escape with them. Chloe is afraid her Aunt is dead as she thought she saw her Aunt's spirit while they were escaping. She tries to summon her Aunt but instead, she almost summons up another mysterious woman. This spirit is resists showing herself to Chloe but speaks to Chloe in a familiar manner, leading Chloe to believe it might be the spirit of someone she knows.
During their stay with the resistance group, Chloe and the other teens get training from the adult supernaturals (supernaturals being the term used to describe people with magical abilities). One woman in particular, another necromancer named Margaret, is very helpful in Chloe's training, teaching her different ways she can communicate with the dead. Margaret is skeptical of Chloe's ability, unable to believe that a mere teenage girl can summon the dead. On an outing to a cemetery, however, Chloe nearly causes an earthquake as she inadvertently raises the dead buried below. Later, Chloe overhears Margaret expressing her concerns to Andrew that maybe The Edison Group was right and the teens should be kept locked away and under observation.
The teens learn from Andrew about the previous owner of their safe house – a man named Dr. Banks. Apparently, Dr. Banks was the first to do DNA experimentation on supernaturals however he was also the first to be concerned about the pitfalls of the experiments. He was the one who founded the resistance group.
A few weeks later, Derek tells Chloe that he's about to "change" again and he asks Chloe to be with him. Derek's magical ability is that he can change into a wolf but he has yet to really master this power. They go into the woods for the "change". After he changes into a wolf, he senses a hostile presence but, being in wolf form, he can't properly communicate with Chloe so he just pulls on the hem of her jacket to indicate that they should run. They discover that they are being chased by a rival werewolf gang. In the second book of the trilogy (The Awakening), Derek had inadvertently attracted the attention of a rival werewolf gang during their escape from The Edison Group research center.
Now, the werewolves have somehow found Derek again and a fight ensues whereby Derek disables some of them before he changes back to human form. As he's changing back, however, another member of the werewolf gang appears and Chloe rushes off to create a distraction so that Derek, who is vulnerable during his changing, can be safe. She finds out that the werewolves are out to collect a bounty for capturing Derek. Chloe uses her powers to summon the dead so that they attack the werewolves, allowing her and Derek to escape. Chloe finds a phone that one of their pursuers had – there are text messages on the phone indicating that someone knew Derek was at the safe house and had hired the werewolves to capture him. The text message came from a member of the resistance.
Meanwhile, Chloe hears the strange woman's voice again and she thinks it's her mother's voice. Her mother tells her that she and her friends aren't safe at the safe house. The voice is weak and fades after leaving the cryptic message behind.
Later on, thanks to Tori's computer hacking skills, they find out that Andrew was the one behind Derek's attack in the woods by the other werewolves. They also find out that Andrew had been keeping Simon and Derek's father away, as he was afraid the teens would seek their father's help and leave the resistance. Chloe, Tori, Simon and Derek decide that they can't trust Andrew and his so-called resistance group, either so they plan to make another escape.
One night, on the eve of their escape, Andrew stops them and explains to them that he never intended Derek to be killed by the werewolves, he simply wanted to return Derek to his pack. They tie Andrew up so he can't chase them as they try to escape. Andrew tells them the entire property is rigged with magical traps so the teens are afraid to leave the house. They wait for Simon and Derek's father to come rescue them, as Simon finally called his dad for help. The teens decide that it may be better if they pretend that Derek has run off to rejoin his pack and release Andrew so that Andrew doesn't suspect they are still waiting for their opportunity to escape.
The next morning, Margaret returns and everything seems like normal. Chloe is separated from the rest of the teens and to her horror, she starts meeting the ghosts of dead resistance members – including Andrew. They tell her that Margaret has killed them. Margaret appears just as Chloe discovers this terrible truth and injects Chloe with something that knocks her out. When she next reawakens, she's back at the research center with Dr. Davidoff. Chloe finds out that her Aunt Lauren is dead and that Tori might be next to be eliminated if she proves troublesome. In her desperation, Chloe summons up a powerful spirit that lies at the heart of the research center, a spirit that Dr. Davidoff was using to power the research facilities. When the spirit is freed, it wreaks havoc in the facilities providing distraction for Chloe to escape.
On her way out, Chloe is confronted by Tori's mother, who threatens to shoot her but Derek appears and disables her. The ghost of Liz (a previous member of Lyle House) and Aunt Lauren also appear and help her and Derek find Tori and Simon. Everyone leaves the facilities just as a SWAT team enters to capture them. Simon's father appears to put an end to Tori's mother once and for all in a battle of magic. Chloe summons Tori's mother's ghost to kill Dr. Davidoff. Everyone escapes into Simon's father's car. The story ends with Simon's father telling them that their lives are going to be different from now on as they may have to be on the run for some time. Everyone is tenuously happy, however, as they are at least together for the next leg of their journey.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like that in this story, we get to learn more about Chloe's ability to summon the dead. Chloe becomes more adept at using her powers which become useful when she's trying to escape the adult sorcerers, as they always underestimate her abilities.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Chloe releases the powerful spirit at the center of The Edison Group research facilities. It was an epic moment, where Chloe finally proves the extent of her powers.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that Chloe doesn't show off the extent of her powers. All the adult sorcerors think that she is just a teenage kid, how much damage can she possibly do? It is because the adults are so arrogant and sure of themselves that Chloe can surprise them with her powers and give her and her friends a chance to get away.
