When Lacey O'Neill's friend dies, leaving an eleven-year-old daughter Mackenzie in her care, a reluctant Lacey must cope not only with a frightened girl who resents her, but also with feelings about her own mother's murder. Then, a stranger comes to the North Carolina Outer Banks, revealing surprising ties to Lacey and the Christmas Eve when her mother was killed, exposing the last secrets of the O'Neill family.

Midway through performing surgery on a gunshot victim, Dr. Olivia Simon learns that the victim is Annie O'Neill, the woman with whom Olivia's husband is in love.

The city of Jewel is in peril once again, as it is held captive by the frightful Fugleman, his band of Blessed Guardians, and an army of merciless mercenaries. There's no doubt that Goldie and Toadspit want to get their city back, but how can a small group of children fight against such overwhelming forces of evil? And how, as Goldie is determined, can they avoid bloodshed in a war that will set thieves against soldiers, and trickery and deception...