Words have power. Especially hers.

When slave-girl Levila Day is sold to a city scrivener, the last thing she expects is to gain magic powers.

But her new master not only frees her and offers to teach her his trade, he bestows on her mystical ink that only she has the innate power to use. With this ink, Levila can create detailed illusions of events real or fictional--even places she's never been and people she'll never meet.

Levila doesn't know how dangerous her magic might be or how to control it. Seeking answers, Levila and her master must journey overland, braving perilous and magic-riddled lands in hopes of reaching Jhast, the distant town where dwells a half-crazed hermit priest--the only person who might have the knowledge Levila needs.

If Levila can reach him before her own power dooms her as it did her father.