Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities

Keeper of the Lost Cities (KotLC) is the first book in the Keeper series written by Shannon Messenger. It was released on October 2, 2012. The cover art shows Dexter Dizznee and Sophie Foster on a bridge in Paris, looking at the hidden leaping crystal on a lamppost.

Summary
''Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath --someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.''

''Everything changes the day she meets Fitz Vacker, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and can also read minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.''

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” She never seems to thinks she belongs, however soon it all changes. There are secrets buried deep in Sophie's memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

In this page-turning debut, Shannon Messenger creates a riveting story where one girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Preface
Blurry, fractured images swam through Sophie's mind, but she couldn't piece them together. She tried opening her eyes and found only darkness. Something rough pressed against her wrists and ankles, refusing to let her move.

A wave of cold rushed through her as the horrible realization dawned.!!!!!!!

She was a hostage.

A cloth across her lips stifled her cry for help, and a sedative's sweet aroma stung her nose when she inhaled, making her head spin.

Were they going to kill her?

Would the Black Swan really destroy their own creation?

What was the point of Project Moonlark, then? What was the point of Everblaze?

The drug lulled her toward a dreamless oblivion, but she fought back - clinging to the one memory that could shine a tiny spot of light in the thick, inky haze. A pair of beautiful aquamarine eyes.

Fitz's eyes. The first friend in her new life. Her first friend ever.

Maybe if she hadn't noticed him that day in the museum, none of this would have happened.

No. She knew it'd be too late even then. The white fires were already burning - curving toward her city and filling the sky with sticky, sweet smoke.

The spark before the blaze.

Summary
Sophie is thinking of something else in class, and her teacher calls on her to explain what they were talking about. When Sophie answers correctly, her teacher starts muttering how much of a know-it-all she is. When she leaves class, she spots a boy reading a newspaper about her. The boy asks her if this is her, and she nods, thinking he looks good. When a couple of boys make a crash, Sophie puts her hand on her temples and notices the boy is doing the same. The boy asks her if she is a telepath, and Sophie flinches, causing the boy to realize she is. The boy introduces himself as Fitz, and says she is an elf.