Before there were books, there were Words of Power, and those who spoke them could rule the world... Dexter and Daphna Wax don't quite fit in, even with each other. She loves reading, and he loathes it, but neither is pleased by their "special" thirteenth birthday gift, a ruined old book full of nonsense. But the moment it enters Daphna and Dexter's lives, bizarre things begin to happen. Why is their father, who found the book, suddenly so distant? Is the old man who took it from him some kind of hypnotist? Why is a giant, red-eyed man-child menacing them? Now Dex and Daphna have to work...

The world was not just a book of secrets, but a whole library full. Dexter and Daphna Wax have learned incredible things. Their mother was thousands of years old and on a Council devoted to destroying the First Tongue. And there are connivers, like Asterious Rash, who would do anything to learn Words of Power. They also know the Words were hidden in the Book of Nonsense. But now it's out of their hands, and they may not survive long enough to get it back. The twins might stand a chance of completing their mother's mission-if they can get on the same page-but danger looms closer to home than...