It's been ten years since her last trip to Sagaia -- a land of fantastic creatures, talking animals, high adventure, and terrible danger. And six years since her brothers and sister were killed in a tragic train accident. Now she's finally ready to move past the guilt and the grief: she's in a new city, with a new job, and she's engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. She's ready to put everything behind her and try to have a normal, happy life. But then things start to go wrong, horribly wrong... and she keeps seeing, out of the corner of her eye, the sorrowful face of a lion. She no longer trusts therapists and priests, so on impulse, in desperation, she goes to a psychic for advice. He lays out the Tarot cards, studies her palm, and looks her in the eye. "Susan? It's you, isn't it. We've been waiting for you."