Elspeth recalls when she was nine, and the current Rowan King’s Physicians came looking for infected children (those affected by the god-like Spirit of Wood’s mist) at her aunt Opal and uncle Tyrn’s (the Hawthorns’) home. She ran at her aunt’s urging, but hit her head and lost consciousness; beforehand, she asked the dark creature in her head, the Nightmare, for help. When she woke up, she was safely in a forest.

Eleven years later, Elspeth and her cousin Ione travel through the kingdom of Blunder on her way to her father Erik’s house. They avoid the Rowan King’s Physicians and 13 Destriers (elite soldiers), who seek infected at the Rowan King’s command, and eventually make it to Spindle House. Though Elspeth was infected when she was nine, her family believes she lacks magic, and she has never corrected them. At her father’s home, she is treated coldly by her stepmother, Nerium, and half-sisters, Nya and Dimia. Though it is Elspeth’s nameday and her father seems pleased to see her, Nerium waits until they’re alone to remind Elspeth that she was sent to the Hawthorns’ as she has no place in the family. Elspeth leaves without notifying anyone, arguing with the Nightmare, who wanted her to stay and defy Nerium.