Twelve-year-old Goldie, impulsive and bold, relies on her skills as a liar and a thief to try to rescue her captured friends from the child-stealers running rampant in the City of Spoke.

As a deserter and a traitor to the crown, Hikaru is no stranger to pain. Although a lifetime of tragedy drives him to the brink of insanity, he makes peace with his demons in the security of living with Sonika and Kulako. Not only must they hide Hikaru's survival, but held under Emperor Akuko's intense scrutiny, Kulako and Sonika are sworn to keep an impossible promise. With an innocent child's freedom hanging in the balance against a divided world,...