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 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.