In this fast-paced introduction to the Earthcore series, you'll get to meet a unique gang of New Zealand superheroes as they come face to face with the most powerful creature they've ever encountered... and it has a gift for them.

Superpowers from hot springs? Who knew? Anira thinks her family's trip to Rotorua, New Zealand, will be a week of grudging participation as she fights off a latent phobia of volcanoes. But this place has ancient secrets she could never have imagined. For its natural geology and untamed thermal forces hold a hidden power—one that transforms those gifted by the spirits of the land. Now Anira finds herself possessing abilities she has never known. There are others like her—young and old, both good and evil...And the legendary guardians have a job for them to do. Together they are caught up in a race against the developer intent on destroying the natural springs that are the home of the ancients and the source of their powers.

New Zealand’s largest city. Forty-nine volcanoes. What’s one more? Away from the thermal springs and legendary creatures of Rotorua, Anira’s supernatural brainpower and memory have faded. She’s forgotten the events of summer and even the friends who became the Earthcore team. Tiger, Graeme and Bethany come to the big city too, each unsettled in their own way. But their maniacal opponent has arrived in Auckland, wielding mind control and bent on revenge, terrorism and profit. When the earth becomes restless from his meddling, Anira must fight to remember her gifts, to bring the team together again, and to call the ancient taniwha to help protect her hometown from a disastrous eruption. In the Earthcore series, every book is a self-contained adventure and can be read as a standalone.

They saved a town with the help of the creatures that command the geysers. They saved a city from volcanic eruption. Surely they've earned a break? Tell that to the Titanosaur. Now the faultline network is active, threatening all of central New Zealand with aftershocks that might be bigger than the initial event. Amateur geologist Anira Fraser is in Picton, facing her final high school athletics competition. Along with her friend Tiger McRae, she realises their presence is disturbing the area's guardian spirits. Soon other Earthcore members arrive in town and discover an old enemy stirring up fresh trouble, while the locals hint at the legend of a mysterious taniwha war that could worsen the series of quakes. It's up to Anira and the Earthcore team to find the cause of the war and end it—otherwise they themselves could be responsible for a cataclysmic natural disaster.

The Earthcore team's newfound fame means they're asked to help calm an earthquake cluster shaking the Hauraki Gulf yet again. No geological cause can be found - indicating a source related to the Taniwha of legend. Anira and her team travel to Waiheke Island, where clues point to the old, closed-up WWII fortification tunnels that honeycomb the island's remote eastern headland. As the quakes continue, the team investigates a mystery from the 1940s. To solve it, they’ll have to head underground, where a young member fumbles with dangerous emerging power and the rest of the team find their magic almost useless. Split up and trapped beneath the surface, Earthcore races to resolve a wartime injustice, but the Taniwha are angry - and the tide is rising.