Darcy Pennington's course was set long before she ever stepped foot in Alitheia, and when she returns for her fourth visit to the magical realm, she finds even more outside her control than ever before. Darcy is finally willing to follow her prophesied path, but a painful rejection almost pushes her over the edge, and when she demands answers from Rubidius, he provides her only with more secrets she must keep from the others. In the meantime, Darcy and her friends set out to confront one of Tselloch's gateways, fulfilling-so they think-the great Prophecy of the Six. But when faced with practicing their magic against Tselloch's evil power, nothing turns out as expected. With her oracle and her looming transformation into a tsellodrin always hanging over her, Darcy wonders, in the end, if there is any hope at all for her and Tellius, or for Alitheia.