Kywen and Sundeera are nexum, soul-bonded, and they have their hearts set upon finding the second Scroll of Jakuta, unseen by the living and whispered about by the dead. The girls live on the southern tip of Hindar, and they know nothing but the centuries of peace made possible by the Jaliff Treay, the precious agreement forged by the Elemental, Spirit, Flora, and Fauna clans of seasons past as they faced the destruction of the Endless Ravage.

Sundeera has just returned from a half-season of Inaru training while Kywen finds herself planning to bid the rumor-shrouded Wiovan Order at the Collaboration, a festival celebrated every two seasons with an arena for each discipline of magic: Crystal, Shade, Wild, and Root. Half performance and half test, the Collaboration allows boys and girls to bid for apprenticeships with previously warring clans, and for the first time, the celebrations are being held far from the Watcher of Clans' protected territories of the Capital.

After a chance encounter with Jorrel Airmala, the second heir to the Watcher of Clans, and a shocking attack that leaves more questions than answers, Kywen, Sundeera, and Jorrel are thrust into a whirlwind of adventure, danger, and mystery that bring them face-to-face with the unthinkable.