The Lost Books series is a hexalogy of fantasy books written by American author Ted Dekker. When the first letter of each books is taken individually, they spell "Circle". The 6 young-adult novels span the 15-year gap between Black and Red in Dekker's popular Circle Series, and also beyond. Plot Chosen (Book 1) Thirteen years have passed since the lush, coloured forests were turned to desert by Teeleh, the enemy of Elyon and the vilest of all creatures. Evil now rules the land and shows itself as a painful, and scaly disease that covers the flesh of the Horde, a people who live in the desert. The powerful green waters, once precious to Elyon, have all vanished from the Earth except for seven small forests surrounding seven small lakes. Those few who have chosen to follow the ways of Elyon now live in those forests, bathing once daily in the powerful waters to rid themselves of the disease. The number of their sworn enemy, the Horde, has grown in thirteen years and, fearing the green waters above all else, these desert dwellers, have sworn to wipe all traces of the forests from the Earth. Only the forest guard stand in their way. Ten thousand elite fighters against an army of nearly four hundred thousand Horde. But the forest guard is starting to crumble. In an attempt to raise the number of the Forest Guard, the leader (Thomas Hunter) lowers the recruitment age to 16. Four teens are chosen to be the leaders of the forest. To be inducted they must each find and bring back a catalina cacti, a cactus plant. While out, they are attacked by Horde scouts. The main character of the four, Johnis, managed to lure the scouts away, and ends up at a dead end. He finally gets away and they return safely. Infidel (Book 2) Once home, Michal comes and gives Johnis a ring that belonged to the latter's mother, Rosa, before she was taken and supposedly killed by the Horde. Johnis quickly sets out to rescue his mother, whom he believes is in the Horde city across the desert. He, at first, illegally takes command of a Forest Guard division and leads them across the desert where they are slaughtered and he is only saved by the armies of Thomas Hunter who came to the rescue. Back home, Johnis is left to the council