"The world is a dangerous place, Blackbird. When you lose your home and all you've known, it clips your wings. . ." Sixteen-year old Birdie Black has spent her life in hiding. But when strangers burn down her cottage with her ailing aunt still inside, she's forced out into a world only ever experienced through books. Trekking through bandit-ridden terrain, she uses skills instilled by her aunt to survive, desperately seeking to find her uncle Maddox in the Sea of Circles. But what Birdie doesn't know is Supreme Nefaro-the all-powerful dictator of the Ministry of Faces-still hungers for her bloodline. He has sent his champion, Kassova Kye, on the hunt for Maddox and his kin.