Jonna Turner

The Bench Jonna Turner

Eighth grade is almost over, and Alaina is excited to start Kiowa High School in the fall. In between, she hopes to spend a fun Colorado summer with her friends and a few weeks in Florida's sand, sun, and surf. However...before the last few days of middle school come to an end, Alaina's life takes a trip into the Twilight Zone. Calls from an out-of-service number and calls on a cellphone with a dead battery, plus the appearance of a strange woman-who is there one minute and gone the next-have Alaina spooked. When she reluctantly agrees to accompany her mother to a battered women's shelter, she befriends two boys whose mother has been kidnapped by their abusive father. Soon, Alaina discovers the strange woman she has been seeing is the boys' mother. Alaina is now determined to help the boys find their missing mother and enlists the aid of her best friends. Together, the teenagers pool their talents and doggedly follow the clues they hope will lead them to the missing woman. Yet, before they make any headway, the boys are kidnapped from the shelter and it is burned to the ground. The situation worsens and becomes dangerous for Alaina when she is targeted by the kidnapper. It will take all the skills and courage she and her friends can muster to help the police track down a heartless, abusive kidnapper-before Alaina becomes his next victim.