Gray, Ayana | Paperback / softback | 07-07-2022 | 9780593407639

In this much-anticipated series opener, two Black teenagers must trek into a magical jungle to hunt down the ancient creature menacing their home-before they become the hunted.



Sixteen-year-old Koffi is a beastkeeper at the Night Zoo, a menagerie of Eshozan’s most fearsome and magical creatures. The job is dangerous but as an indentured servant, Koffi has little other choice if she hopes to one day pay off her family’s debt and earn their freedom.



Seventeen-year-old Ekon is the second son of the wealthy and well-respected Okojo family. Born to succeed, he is all-but guaranteed a spot on the prestigious Yaba warrior group alongside his older brother.



But on the night of Ekon’s final rites of passage for warriorship the Night Zoo erupts into flames, and both Koffi’s and Ekon’s lives are sent into a tailspin. Seeing Koffi escape the Zoo and her contract, Ekon sets off to stop her when they both come face to face with the Shetani-a vicious demon-like monster that has plagued the city for decades. Neither expects what happens next. Koffi’s hidden fire magic emerges causing the Shetani to flee, leaving Ekon stunned as Koffi flees next.



Disgraced for his inability to capture Koffi and desperate to prove himself by an act of valor that will allow him to finally join the Yaba warriors, Ekon has one choice-to find Koffi and with her fire magic, hunt down the Shetani. And Koffi-to capture the Shetani for the Zoo, thereby absolving her debt and freeing her family from their indentured servitude.



With neither telling the other the truth, two find each other once more to strike a tenuous alliance and set off into the forbidden jungle where the Shetani lives but the longer they search, the less clear it becomes whether they’re hunting, or being hunted.