The Prism: Book One
The world was never supposed to stay broken.
Fifteen years after a mysterious prism fractured reality, life on Earth has become beautiful, dangerous, and impossible to explain. The sky burns violet and pink. Trees move with minds of their own. Mythical creatures walk alongside humans. Vehicles have souls. Schools are built inside pocket dimensions. And every family knows the rules of survival: never leave home without your belt, stay quiet, and never go out past midnight.
For fifteen-year-old Tayden Vess, this strange new world is the only one he has ever truly known. Raised in Rockwall, Texas by a powerful, loving family of witches, protectors, and truth seekers, Tayden has learned how to live inside the impossible. He knows how to move through streets that glow beneath his feet, how to trust the protective belt that keeps him hidden from what hunts in the dark, and how to pretend he is used to a reality that still feels like it might collapse at any moment.
But pretending gets harder when rumors of a wish granting stone begin to spread.
Hidden somewhere inside the legendary Illusion Forest, the stone is said to have the power to grant any desire. For Tayden, his cousin Axel, and their friends Laylah and Cameron, the possibility is too tempting to ignore. If the stone is real, it could do what no scientist, witch, guide, or government agency has been able to do: restore the world to the way it was before the Prism changed everything.
There is only one problem.
The Illusion Forest is not a place people simply find. It appears without warning, vanishes without mercy, and leaves behind stories no one can fully prove. Some say it feeds on desire. Others say it tests the soul. Those who enter rarely return unchanged... if they return at all.
When Laylah discovers a way to summon the forest, what begins as a reckless plan for a Halloween sleepover becomes something far more dangerous. Armed with protective belts, forbidden research, magical supplies, and wishes they may not fully understand, the four friends step into a living forest that knows exactly what they want... and exactly what they fear.
Inside, beauty becomes bait. Paths shift. Shadows hunt. The forest listens when its name is spoken. Every choice carries a cost, every truth has weight, and every wish reveals something hidden in the heart of the person who made it.
As Tayden and his friends move deeper through the forest's layers, they begin to realize the stone may not be the miracle they imagined. The forest is not simply guarding it. The forest is choosing who deserves to reach it.
And the deeper they go, the more terrifying the truth becomes:
The Illusion Forest has been waiting for them.
Blending fantasy, horror, humor, found-footage mystery, family legacy, and coming-of-age adventure, The Illusion Forest is a fast paced YA fantasy horror story about friendship, courage, identity, and the dangerous hope of wishing the world back to what it used to be.
Perfect for readers who love magical worlds with dark edges, close knit friendships, eerie mysteries, and high stakes adventures where the scariest monsters are not always the ones hiding in the trees.