Twenty Palaces Series

When Ray Lilly was 13 years old, a handgun accident landed his best friend, Jon Burrows, in a wheelchair and turned Ray into a runaway and petty criminal. Fifteen years later, Ray returns home after a stint in prison; he's determined to go straight, but he knows he can't do that without making peace with his old friend. What Ray doesn't expect is that Jon has just received a mysterious cure - not only is he out of his wheelchair, he seems stronger and faster than...well, pretty much anyone.

Stormy Bay is a dying town nestled against an eerily placid ocean, and Ray Lilly is trapped in it. He can barely remember his name let alone his mission for the Twenty Palace society. Worse, he realizes that for some time now he's been living as a puppet, his body and mind under the complete domination of an unknown power, and the townsfolk think this puppet is his real identity. And that power can still seize control of Ray's body at any time, forcing him and the people around him to playact in nonsense stories that center around a mysterious boy and his monster dog.

The three original spellbooks, source of all magic in the world, have been found, and Ray Lilly has already "acquired" one. Now he and Annalise are on a historic mission to get the other two and they're ready to kill anyone who gets in their way. If they succeed, the Twenty Palace Society will become more powerful than it has ever been and could truly safeguard humanity from both extra-dimensional predators and the people who summon them. But this time their enemies are more formidable than any they've ever faced before.