When Shan Amos discovers classmates plan to brutalize her best friend, Isaiah, she skips school for the first time in her life, so he will stay home, too. But worries about small town violence take a back seat to fears of worldwide destruction when she eavesdrops on an argument between her reclusive grandmother and a stranger, learning not only that the Granny who raised her actually abducted her as a toddler, but that the stranger, her aunt and legal guardian, is determined to exploit a power she believes Shan controls. Dragged to New York by the aunt she despises, wearing a blood-forged ring she can't remove, Shan is thrust to the forefront of a global struggle. Torn between her aunt's ruthless logic and Granny's warnings, in a desperate race through New York City's hidden underground, Shan fights to control the power she doesn't want before her terrifying visions come true or the magic itself destroys her, Isaiah and everyone she loves.