Used to fending for herself, fifteen-year-old Skyler will do almost anything to escape the brothel where she was born-even if it means killing their top client in defense of one of the dubious "ladies" who are the closest thing to family she's ever known. As punishment, the mistress sells her to Deacon, the local criminal organization's cruel second-in-command. In one deal, Skyler trades being an out of place, unwanted child among brothel wenches to being controlled by a cruel master. The organization, known only as the Dead, oils the wheels of crime and commerce in the city of Strand and Skyler is suddenly a member. Deacon whisks her away to the Dead's headquarters in the catacombs beneath the city. Spending her days stealing and spying for her new master, Skyler's life has gone from terrible to so much worse. That is, until the leader of the Dead, an elite assassin, discovers Skyler's special gift for disappearing seemingly into thin air and takes her on as his apprentice. Skyler discovers her unique magic isn't her mentor's only motivation for training her-and the secrets he's been keeping threaten to destroy her faith in him. When Deacon confronts Skyler and demands she spy on her mentor, she's caught at the center of a plot that could tear the Dead apart and faced with a dangerous choice: betray her mentor and sacrifice her one chance to change her fate, or risk being killed, or worse, by Deacon.