Grade 5-8–In this eighth volume in the series, 14-year-old wizards Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan have just returned from an extraterrestrial vacation and are getting ready to go back to school. Meanwhile, Nita"s wizardly younger sister, Dairine, and their father have been hosting three alien wizards in their basement. Everything changes when the magical group learns that the universe is rapidly filling with a mysterious dark matter that threatens to swallow all of the stars and worlds into oblivion within a few weeks. It is already causing the adult wizards to lose their powers, and even to forget that magic exists. Kit, Nita, Dairine, and their alien guests, along with Kit"s magical dog, Ponch, and Dairine"s enchanted laptop, Spot, zip off to scour the galaxy for a prophesied secret weapon–a person or thing that can overcome the impending catastrophe. Although Duane has tried to allow each book in the series to stand on its own, most readers will be lost without having read at...