Seventeen-year-old Lilik is gutterborn and sick of it. Done groveling to the tyrannical trader class and watching her family suffer, she is ready to be a hero. And the opportunity has finally arrived. Lilik's nation is under siege by brutal sea tribes. But there is hope: on a distant volcanic island, a months-long night has fallen. An expedition plans to set sail, including young women-all trader-class-who will harness powerful magic gathering in the island's dark. Blind to the consequences, Lilik bluffs her way aboard and plunges into the dark. Shortly after landfall, disaster strikes the expedition. Marooned in the oppressive dark, Lilik's shipmates succumb to primal fears, turning on each other. To survive, Lilik must evade the savages, unravel the island's ancient secrets, and master her own, innate magic before it drives her mad. Anything else will lead to her execution... and a cataclysm unseen since the last millennium.