The Launch Window

The first rocket launch was an experiment.

The second one has already been approved.

Dex brought a homemade rocket to school in a paper grocery bag.

That was the first problem.

The second problem was the camera strapped to its side.

Jace, Priya, El, and Dex have survived impossible doors, a creature made of static, a forgotten voice inside the school's computers, and a radio station that taught the building to obey.

Now they have a map.

And every line points toward Harbor City's mysterious Seawall.

The plan is simple: launch a model rocket, photograph the city from above, and discover what the ground has been hiding.

Then the photographs begin changing.

A forgotten baseball diamond appears where no field should be. Strange markings spread across the school roof. A lighthouse beam illuminates something impossible in the clouds.

And a warning arrives from a voice that knows exactly what happened the last time someone tried to reach the sky.

DO NOT LAUNCH AT 4:10.

But Harbor City has other plans.

School records begin approving activities nobody requested. An old launch site starts waking up. The neighborhood becomes an audience. And the next launch window keeps moving, waiting for someone to complete what was started years ago.

With only paper records, a battered rocket, a handful of stubborn rules, and Mr. K's increasingly overworked key ring, the Vault team must uncover what connects the school, the Seawall, and the sky itself.

Because the greatest danger isn't discovering what's above Harbor City.

It's discovering what might be looking back.

The Launch Window is Book 5 of The Vault Chronicles, a darkly funny science-fiction horror adventure for readers ages 9-12 who love mysterious technology, impossible places, clever young heroes, and supernatural rules that matter.

THE SKY IS NOT EMPTY.

AND NOT EVERY WINDOW IS AN EXIT.