Once, Lila Halfshadow wore the Crown of Life and helped heal a wounded world. Now she longs for something smaller and braver: to just be herself. But the past hasn’t let go. A journey into a haunted mountain brings her face-to-face with Umbra, a strange girl the exact size of Lila who looks… off , as if glimpsed through tinted glass. Umbra claims to speak for the missing half of Lila’s shadow, and says that only Dorinnda (the sword that can cut through anything) can mend what was severed long ago. Their quest carries them from cursed courts to forsaken islands, from storm-tossed waters to the lantern-lit streets of Atisket. Waiting in the dark are a malevolent goddess, a crumbling king, an ancient evil stirring in forgotten swamps, and a prophecy hidden on a shelf where no book should be. To save friends old and new (including a young Slurkwyrm with a very big secret), Lila must face the sharp outline of her own past. Because some shadows want more than light… they want a life.