In this companion novel to Dear Levi, told in letters,11-year-old Levi helps a young African American in a harrowing flight for freedom along the Underground Railroad.

Dear Austin, I reckon you’re going to be anxious about what I’m about to do. If ever I needed your advice, Austin, it’s now.

The year is 1853, and 11-year-old Levi Ives can’t wait to join his brother, Austin, on the family claim out west. But for now, Levi is stuck back in Pennsylvania, writing to Austin and stirring up trouble with his friends, Jupiter and Possum.

Then tragedy strikes. Jupiter’s younger sister, Darcy, disappears, and all signs point to a horrifying explanation: slave catchers. Without telling a soul, Levi and Jupiter set out on a perilous journey into the Deep South—not as master and slave, as some will assume, but as two terrified friends, desperate to find little Darcy before it’s too late.