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Have we really come so far, when a tour of the Continent is so desirable a thing? We've traded our swords for treaties, our daggers for promises-but our thirst for violence has never been quelled. And that's the crux of it: it can't be quelled. It's human nature.

For her sixteenth birthday, Vaela Sun receives the most coveted gift in all the Spire-a trip to the Continent. It seems an unlikely destination for a holiday: a cold, desolate land where two uncivilized nations remain perpetually locked in combat. Most citizens lucky enough to tour the Continent do so to observe the spectacle and violence of war, a thing long banished in the Spire. For Vaela-a talented apprentice cartographer-the journey is a dream come true: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve upon the maps she's drawn of this vast, frozen land.

But Vaela's dream all too quickly turns into a nightmare as the journey brings her face-to-face with the brutal reality of a war she's only read about. Observing from the safety of a heli-plane, Vaela is forever changed by the bloody battle being waged far beneath her. And when a tragic accident leaves her stranded on the Continent, Vaela finds herself much closer to danger than she'd ever imagined. Starving, alone, and lost in the middle of a war zone, Vaela must try to find a way home-but first, she must survive.

Fiona Hardingham is a British-born actress, singer, voice-over artist, and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. On stage, she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in her comedic one-woman show The Dark Show. She has also starred in the dark-comedy short film The Ballerino. She earned a BA honors degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, London, and also studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Keira Drake is a full-time author and enjoys writing poetry and music in addition to novels. When not writing or gaming, Keira is likely reading, napping, golfing, drawing, or spending time with her daughter. A native Californian, she now lives in Utah.