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Dead-End Shortcut
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 31 2026
Pages: 88
Weight: 0.26
Height: 0.23 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Your shortcut to a faster commute... just became a one-way trip into the past.
Aiden just wants to make it to first period on time-and avoid the wrath of Mrs. Gable for the third time this week. To him, the crumbling, fog-shrouded Blackwood Cemetery is not a place for eternal rest; it's a massive, grass-covered shortcut that shaves exactly seven minutes and forty-two seconds off his walk.
His best friend, Iain, has always called it a bad idea. Today, he was right.
While cutting through the old, overgrown section of the graveyard, the boys stumble upon a terrifying sight: a man in a tattered, old-fashioned coat, frantically digging up an unmarked grave.
Caught in the act, the grave robber pursues them, but this is no ordinary criminal. Possessing a lantern that casts shadows that move on their own, and moving with inhuman speed, the Crow-Man seems tied to the very earth of the cemetery.
Barely escaping with their lives, the boys make a horrifying discovery in the mud: a silver key shaped like a crow, pulsing with a strange, cold energy. It's not just a key; it's a connection. And the Crow-Man will stop at nothing to get it back.
Now, Aiden and Iain are on the run, not from a person, but from a living piece of the town's buried history. To survive, they must unravel the mystery of the Crow-Man, unlock the secret of the Key of Roots, and face the terrifying truth of what lies just beneath the surface of Blackwood Village.
If you love spooky middle-grade adventures like Goosebumps or Small Spaces, don't miss The Aiden Adventures: Dead-End Shortcut. The shortcut to trouble has just opened.
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