Elie does not believe her life is very different from that of any other princess. Her father busies himself with ruling the kingdom; her mother acts distant and pretentious; her beloved brother died in battle. She’s grown up a solitary soul, content to write and draw, diligent in her studies and dutifully following her royal schedule.
But after her maternal grandmother comes to her in her dreams, Elie leaves her restricted life to search for her roots. Spurred by her brother’s memory and her grandmother’s mystical guidance, she ventures into the Pensieri Mountains, where spirits that thrive on human fear drive people to madness and death.A select few have the ability to pass safely through these mountains. They carry mysterious stones that protect them in a way no one understands, not even the stonebearers themselves. Elie has heard of these stones and these people, but she never knew they had any significance in her life. Everything changes when she learns that her paternal grandfather’s powerful and righteous spirit was trapped within pieces of a mysterious stone by none other than her grandmother, his nemesis.
Along the way, she also learns the truth about her brother’s death and her grandmother’s plans to rule the world through fear. She discovers her own inner powers of mind-controlling beauty and telepathic abilities, inherited from her mother and aunt. And she finds herself taken with the handsome young peasant friend of her banished cousin. Elie must choose whether to use her newly found powers, family influence and information to follow the direction of her evil grandmother or help her grandfather return to defeat his archenemy once and for all.
