Emily Sledge finally has her dream job: guarding the rips in the Veil as part of the globetrotting Sabre & Torch Society. Even if her mentor keeps embarrassing her by saving her skin.

But war is looming back home, and Emily's latest mission takes a complex turn when she traces her monstrous prey to an enchanted painting.

Determined to prove she can stand solo, Emily guides her friends through the painting into Arcadia, a realm of magic suffering under the rule of the tyrannical King Zero.

But the cruel rules of Zero's world come as a shock, and Emily realizes that if she wants to survive, she can't solve every problem on her own... not when the citizens of Arcadia all have their secrets and magic always comes with a price.