The epic adventure continues. . . Elia has been separated from Hokk for many weeks as she struggles to live with the Torkin marauders. Viewed as a dangerous outsider, she works tirelessly to gain their acceptance, though all the while, she has resigned herself to never being able to return to her home above the clouds. Yet Hokk has found a way to leave Below for good, and once he crosses forbidden boundaries to track Elia down in the mountains, they finally escape and fly away to Above. Together, they embark on a perilous quest that takes them across the scorched sand dunes of a desolate floating island, where the sun's deadly rays endanger Hokk's life. Their only hope of survival is to be saved by a family with important ties to the privileged classes which Elia has been trying to infiltrate. As she digs deeper, scandalous secrets are revealed, threatening to destroy everything Elia has been trying to do to save Hokk, herself, and her own family from the forces that would see them eliminated.