In a land far away, 15-yr-old (she thinks) Alex just wants to do her magic show to make enough money to see her and Gwennie through the winter. She doesn't want any mistakes. She doesn't care (much) about the missing king and queen or the despotic ruler, Rolando, that is making life so hard for everyone. But she ends up the not-so-proud owner of a scraggly dragon, and sets off (reluctantly) to discover there's a lot more she needs to learn about magik and dragons, and a boy named Orion that visits her dreams...