Anna is fourteen. She has been for thousands of years. For most of those years she had Slumbered in the South, her beloved People keeping her safe, keeping her hidden, while all the while adding to her legends. Then the Medb had come. A terrifying creature, only half remembered from her childhood, awakening her, whispering at her, counselling her in a voice so disturbing, and yet so hauntingly familiar. Anna is reminded of another face from her distant past, The Abandoned One. He'd given her something. Something out of time itself. Something she had to hide, to keep safe regardless of consideration for her own safety. Now others sought this precious object, and she'd been called forth once more to protect her adoptive People, to safeguard their heritage. A journey north is begun. Her only strength is her three books, brought with her from their hiding place in the South, giving her access to powers she scarcely understands or controls. The Medb would teach her, she said. On one condition. Trust no one. In the everyday world, only a few years have passed since Chogan abandoned his children. In his own personal history, hundreds of years have now gone by. His children, dead now by the hand of the Medb, are distant memories. His Travelling has brought about many changes in him. His bitterness has faded, and he has a new wife and a new child. His life, finally, has purpose. But history can only be ignored, not forgotten. And when a face from his father's past intrudes upon his new life, he is forced to face his history once more, and the consequences of his estrangement from his father begin to burn brightly. Reluctantly, he joins forces with names and faces from a resented past, and a journey north to an island in Mahone Bay, off the coast of Canada, is begun. Can a past mistake be corrected?