Sixteen-year-old Bryan Harper has felt alone since the day eight years ago that a sickening, unfamiliar scent wafted from his mother. When he realized too late the new odor was a prelude announcing death, he knew his new sense of smell is a gift, not a curse. At a young age Lauraline Reese escaped death, yet its specter still haunts her. Unable to let go of the feeling that death has not forgotten her, Lauraline finds it hard to find peace with the storm that almost took her life. When Lauraline walks into his life, Bryan knows instantly that she is different from the others. He doesn't know...

"Be careful what you say. Words have power." Kady can't remember a time in her life when she wasn't hiding. From someone or something, but she's never been sure the cause of the secrecy. Auntie, her only companion and the only person she trusts, says that words have power, and she can't tell Kady what they are hiding from. Only that the two of them must stick together and stay under the radar. When Kady awakens in the middle of the night with her house crumbling around her, Auntie hustles her into the night and tries to protect her -- through words, magic words. While Auntie succeeds...

Kady must learn to unleash the magic trapped inside her if she is to help the mage Pylum rescue her aunt. As Kady learns her way around the Temple of Light and takes classes to help her understand magic, she makes new friends like Jasper and learns more about the mysterious mage who helped her in book one: Akilah. Will Kady be able to unleash her power, and what else might she find when her bonds are broken?