When Madeline, a teen with terminal lung disease, accepts healing in exchange for a year of service in the Sunlit Lands, she and her friend Jason enjoy being privileged members of Elenil society, until they learn that magic carries a high price. Madeline Oliver would give anything just to breathe. A tragedy has left Jason Wu guilt-stricken, and now he promises to tell only the truth. Then a mysterious stranger named Hanali appears to Madeline and offers to heal her in exchange for one year of service to his people in the Sunlit Lands. Now Madeline and Jason have been swept into a strange land where their decisions carry consequences that reach farther than they could ever guess. -- adapted from jacket.