When Penelope meets the mysterious and dangerous Vara in her Senior year, she is introduced into the real world of magic and death that lies beneath her ordinary life of petty fear and humiliation. Can Vara turn her around in time to face those of the Dökkálfar, the Dark Elves, who want to kill her before she becomes Queen of the Light Elves? And what of the even more terrible thing that lurks in the darkness; can even Vara and Penelope combined defeat it before it kills them and destroys Los Angeles?