Twenty-one-year-old Maya Halili is determined to earn a full-time faculty position at the National University of the Seven Islands, the country’s most prestigious academic institution. She is willing to do whatever it takes, from running errands for her demanding adviser, Dr. Manalo, to clashing with her longtime rival, the infuriatingly brilliant and undeniably handsome Aga Kaneko.
But beyond the university walls, the city of Santa Teresita is unraveling. A string of mysterious disappearances spreads fear through the streets, and the occupying Astyrian forces tighten their grip on Maya’s people. When the spirits of the Seven Islands begin to call to her, Maya’s carefully ordered world of ambition and scholarship collapses.
Drawn into a secret society known as The Hand of Kaylahon, Maya discovers a hidden order of shamans who can summon the gods and serve as their vessels, at great personal cost. As an ancient evil stirs and threatens to plunge the islands into eternal darkness, The Hand urges Maya to accept the spirits’ call and stand with them in battle.
To save her world, Maya must confront the dangerous truths buried in her past and navigate a landscape of rival shamans, terrifying creatures, and ruthless political forces. The fate of the Seven Islands hangs in the balance as tensions rise toward a war between humans and the divine.