Seventeen-year-old Carter Olsen has lived with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in a small Canadian town for seven years, ever since her father died. It isn’t a welcoming home, but they’re the only family she has left. Little does Carter know, however, that she has a destiny that ties her to another world, a realm sustained by magic.

In the land of Elssador, an ancient darkness is being resurrected, and only a predestined hero can stop it. When Carter Olsen finds herself led to Elssador, everything she knows about her life changes. In a grand adventure seemingly straight out of a fairy tale, she befriends the people of this new place—some who push her toward the path of her great destiny and some who encourage her to make her own way. In the end, however, she must make a choice: return to the relative safety and comfort of her home or save Elssador from the grave darkness that threatens the peaceful land—a darkness that Carter herself may have called upon.

In this fantasy novel, a young woman with a powerful connection to a magical world must decide whether to take up the fight against evil that seems destined for her.