Downlanders are superstitious about Lightwalkers. Even more suspicious of the hollowed, people with deadened limbs from contact with "shadow creatures." The shadow creatures are amorphous shadows that live in darkness. If they touch you for a second, whatever they touch "dies." If they touch you for longer, you die.
Acantha is a downlander with a hollow eye, and the people of her village barely tolerate her presence. When she accidentally spies her local priest heading into the forest at sunset, suddenly she finds the village turned against her.
Athan is a Lightwalker. He would have kept riding, except that one of his company is gravely injured. Desperate, he heads into the nearest downlander village to find a healer. Instead, he finds Acantha.
Homeless, orphaned, and with a younger brother to care for, Acantha agrees to travel with these mysterious Lightwalkers, but not forever. Can she find a place to start over with her brother? Can she discover a place where even a hollowed girl can be accepted?
