All Calwyn wants to do is limp home and hide. But she can't, because although her power has gone and taken all happiness with it, her responsibilities seem to grow every day. There's a sickness attacking the chanters of Tremaris, a sickness that seems to have infected the land itself. And even though Calwyn is now just an ordinary girl with no magic left in her, she can't sit by and watch the world die.

This is a story about tremendous courage and the strength of spirit that life sometimes demands. But it's also a story of hope, because sometimes when everything you know has failed you, there is another way. Sometimes there's a tenth power -- if only you can find it.

"As in the other two books, the detailed descriptions of the settings and the natures of the various chantments are what give the story the richness of elaborate tapestries. . . . [T]here is much to enjoy and ponder." -- School Library Journal

"Questions about Calwyn's family history are answered here for series fans, who will be eager to see book one's vulnerable, callow adolescent arrive at both fuller self-knowledge and her long-awaited destiny." -- Booklist