Then Great Alta plaited the left side of her hair, the golden side, and let in fall into the sinkhole of the night. And there she drew up the queen of shadows and set her upon the earth. Next she plaited the right side of her hair, the dark side, and with it caught the queen of light. And she set her next to the black queen. "And you two shall be sisters. You shall be as images in a glass, the one reflecting the other..." Raised on a mountainside, Jenna learned the arts of the warrior, and from the mountain women the magic of the ancient lore. The greatest magic was calling her dark sister from the depths of the mirror of the land of light and shadow. Skada, the dark one, existed only when the moonlight cast a shadow or lamplight flickered in a darkened room.

World Fantasy Award for Best Novel ALA Best Books for Young Adults Book Two of the Great Alta Saga Jenna was the White Queen. Skada was the Dark Queen. She is bound to Jenna—the other half of Jenna’s self. Drawn out of a mirror by a rite of magic, a “dark sister” is confined to the dark. She vanishes in daylight. It is in this other world the dark sisters wait for moonlight or lamplight to call them forth again. This is their story: of myths turned real, ordinary people turned heroes, a land turned inside out by the coming of White Jenna.

In a land of magic, the great warrior Queen known as White Jenna has found a frail, one-armed child on the battlefield. She adopts the child and names her Scillia. As is custom with the Hames of the Dales, Scillia will be next in line for the throne. A great honor. But Jem—Jenna's natural-born son—covets the throne for himself. Will he risk open rebellion to claim what he believes is rightfully his? Can Scillia stop him?