Peter and the Shadow Thieves
Peter and the Shadow Thieves is a children's novel that was published by Hyperion Books, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, in 2006. Written by humorist Dave Barry and novelist Ridley Pearson, the book is a sequel to their book "Peter and the Starcatchers", continuing the story of the orphan Peter and his latest adventures with the Starcatchers. The "Starcatchers" series is an epic story of a battle between good and evil, incorporating a reimagined version of characters and situations from J.M. Barrie's classic novel "Peter and Wendy". It was illustrated by  artist Greg Call. The series continues in "Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy," and "The Bridge to Never Land." Hyperion also released a series of short short chapter books by the same authors, detailing daily misadventures of the Lost Boys. Plot summary. The book starts three months after the end of "Peter and the Starcatchers". Peter, James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted have settled on the island, with Tinker Bell keeping a watchful eye on Peter and the pirates, led by Black Stache (who now goes by the alias "Captain Hook" since his initial  fight with Peter), have erected and settled into a fort. Around this time, "Le Fantome", under scarred Captain Nerezza, finds Mollusk Island after weeks of searching, accompanied by the vengeful Slank and the dark, menacing, mysterious entity known as Lord Ombra. During a confrontation with Hook as Peter and the mermaids rescue a captured James, a posse from"Le Famtome" hold a nighttime standoff with the Mollusk tribe over the location of the large quantity of Starstuff that had briefly been on the island. After Ombra deduces that the Starstuff was taken by Lord Aster and the Starcatchers, the group leaves  the island and immediately set sail for England. Peter, having witnessed the confrontation, decides that he must warn Molly of the approaching danger and stows away on the ship with Tinker Bell. The Asters receive a tip from the dolphins warning them of the landing party on Mollusk Island and the presence of the inhuman Ombra, prompting Leonard Aster to leave London with the Starstuff and guard it in a hidden location until the Return (the starstuff would be sent back into the heavens), leaving new nightmen to guard Molly and her mother, Louise. Meanwhile, Peter's presence on the  ship is detected by Lord Ombra, forcing Peter to fake his death by temporarily jumping ship before flying back on board. When they arrive in London, Peter and Tinker Bell take off to find the Aster mansion but quickly become lost in the city. Peter and Tink are later captured and separated by a constable and a bird seller, respectively, but Tink is able to escape and save Peter from a court hearing. They continue to search for the Aster mansion in upper-class parts of London. Meanwhile, Slank, Nerezza, and Ombra plan with various agents of the Others on  how to safely invade the Aster household, whereas Ombra possesses the new nightmen so that they would not be a problem. After finding gnawed food remnants on the ship and after hearing of Peter's escape from the court by flying, Slank deduces that Peter is in London and believes that he will interfere with their plans. Later, the men break into the household to capture Molly and Louise. Jenna, a housemaid who is in cahoot with the group, puts the household staff to sleep and threatens Molly in her room with a knife while Slank and various others kidnap  Louise and Ombra makes his way to Molly's room. With directions from J. M. Barrie, Peter arrives and locates Molly, who realizes that Ombra possesses his victims by touching their shadows and blows out the candles. They barely escape from Ombra and take shelter in the room of Molly's friend George Darling, and decide to locate Leonard Aster. Peter and Molly later make a nighttime visit to the Tower of London, where the Keep, a secret compound of the Starcatchers, is located. After conferring with Starcatcher Mr. McGuinn about the situation, Ombra, Slank, and various others break in , killing McGuinn, but Molly and Peter manage to escape. With help from George, they deduce that Aster went to Salisbury and the three take a train in and eventually locate him there. Aster expresses his disdain at their arrival but learns of the situation and an apparent ransom for Louise from Molly, but confines them to the house after revealing that the Return was to happen that night. Molly later recalls that Ombra touched McGuinn's shadow before he died, thus realizing that Ombra may have seized knowledge of the Return and that it is in danger. After letting George  in on the business of the Starcatchers, George recalls that a lunar eclipse was happening that night, and that the site of the Return was Stonehenge. The three escape from the house and fly to Stonehenge. Meanwhile, Aster and fellow Starcatchers Magill are ambushed midway through the return by Ombra, Slank, Nerezza, and various agents of the Others. Aster is shot after closing the box of Starstuff to protect a possessed Louise, and Slank nearly kills Peter. Molly and George haul out the Asters, while Tink, Magill, and Magill's bear Karl drive off the men. Peter stays behind to  reopen the closed box before the timeframe for the Return finishes, but Ombra makes contact with Peter's shadow and they both engage in a brief but intense mental battle before Peter manages to open the box, thus completing the Return of the Starstuff to the Heavens, with the resulting flashes of light seemingly disintegrating Ombra and releasing Louise and various others from his control. Slank and the Others are forced to flee. A couple days later, Peter bids his goodbyes to the Asters and George before flying back to Mollusk Island. During the plot in London, Captain Hook and  the pirates manage to locate and capture James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted in order to lure Peter back and get his revenge. After some time, with the unknowing help of first mate Smee and various island monkeys, the boys manage to escape the cage that they were located in just as Peter arrives and opens the gates of the fort for them to get out, and afterwards promptly hits Hook in the face with a mango, ending the book. Characters. Many of the characters from "Peter and the Starcatchers" are back for this sequel. However, a few characters are  also mentioned in "Peter Pan and Wendy", and some were created exclusively for "Peter and the Shadow Thieves". There is one point in the book where the authors introduce J.M. Barrie. He gives Peter directions to Molly's house by saying “You want the second path to the right, then straight on ‘till you see a row of fine mansions." It plays on the directions to Neverland in "Peter and Wendy", "Second to the right and straight on till morning."