Emily and her friends think they'll find the help they need in Cielis, but something isn't right. Streets that were once busy are deserted, and the townspeople who are left live in crippling fear. Emily is escorted to the Academy where she's expected to compete for a spot on the Guardian Council, the most powerful Stonekeepers. But as the number of competitors gets smaller and smaller, a terrible secret is slowly uncovered--a secret that, if left...

Horace F. Andrews, armed with a strange wooden box, and Chloe Burke, wearing a mysterious dragonfly pendant, become entangled in a secret and ancient society striving to protect powerful devices from the evil Riven.

Emily and her brother Navin head for Kanalis to find an antidote for the poison that's killing their mother.