LaDarrion Williams will bring readers back to Caiman University in a new young adult fantasy novel, People magazine reports.

Labyrinth Road will publish Williams’ Bones at the Crossroads next summer. The press describes the book as “a wholly unique and electric saga of magic, heritage, and community.”

The novel is a sequel to Williams’ Blood at the Root, which was published in May. That book follows Malik, a teenager with magical powers who enrolls at a historically Black university where he seeks answers about the disappearance of his mother 10 years earlier. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a well-thought-out magical world that provocatively centers Black experiences.”

Bones at the Crossroads finds Malik back at the university, coming to terms with the family he recently discovered while confronting a dangerous new threat.

On the social platform X, Williams revealed the inspiration for the title of his new book.

“I was always fascinated with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ‘Tha Crossroads’ video since I was a kid and writing Bones at the Crossroads, I would always refer back to that video and pull some inspiration from it,” he wrote. “That’s how I came up with the title. Malik will be at a crossroads on a lot of things and he’s going to have to deal with what happened in book 1. He’s gonna have to make some decisions that’s going to change Caiman University for good, or for bad.”

Bones at the Crossroads is scheduled for publication on July 29, 2025.

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.