Adventure, danger, and a thrilling global mission await 12-year-old Cruz Coronado as he joins an elite school for explorers.

Cruz leaves his tranquil home in Hawaii to join 23 talented kids from around the globe to train at the Explorer Academy with the world's leading scientists to become the next generation of great explorers. But for Cruz, there's more at stake. No sooner has he arrived at the Academy than he discovers that his family has a mysterious past with the organisation that could jeopardise his future. In the midst of codebreaking and cool classes, new friends and augmented-reality expeditions, Cruz must tackle the biggest question of all: Who is out to get him … and why?

Readers can get in on the excitement with puzzles and codes embedded throughout.With the help of his classmates, Cruz puts together pieces of a complicated puzzle. Suddenly, he finds himself at the centre of an international quest for a missing formula that only he can decode. By the time he boards the Academy's flagship Polaris for his semester at sea, the fate of his friends, and maybe even the world, are in his hands.