Anurag de Bouchard is on a mission. He's waited half his lifetime for this moment. At last he can light the beacon that will spread the news across the whole of Aquanus:

The Apprentice has come.

All across the vast, dangerous waters of that ocean world, thousands of revolutionaries are quietly mobilizing. It is time to rise against Emperor Necrolius Anaxagorius, the soul-consuming monster devouring the heart and soul of Aquanus like a cancer and growing more powerful by the day. The Apprentice is prophesied to be the only one who can destroy him before he invades Earth and consumes it, too.

But the Apprentice, Melody Singleton, is only thirteen years old, and still on the other side of the Tangent, the portal separating Aquanus from Earth. As she and Yaeko Mitsaki, her best friend, and their parents prepare for a whole new life and the distinct possibility that they'll never return home, a hidden kingdom and its king brace for all-out war with the emperor's mighty forces. Even with the Apprentice on their side, their chances for victory are next to nothing. But if they don't prevail, Melody will never get the chance to confront Necrolius, and Aquanus and Earth will fall forever to his deadly clutches.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Even so, there is time yet for much less frightening things like falling in love, traveling to Antarctica, dancing in the living room, playing in a concert, first kisses, learning how to turn into a red-tailed hawk, and laughing and singing.