As the veil between worlds thins, global catastrophe staggers the Earth. The rock stratum under Greenland is rebounding. A super volcano forms under Greenland's ice accelerating the melt of an already weakened ice cap. The sudden breakup of the glacier Garrett and Grady are exploring unexpectedly shatters into the greatest freshwater pulse the modern world has ever known. But there is a thin place. Honor, guts and the timely intervention by rescuers from Eressa collude for Garrett and Grady's survival. In the realm of their rescuers, Garrett and Grady find a world of unimaginable beauty. The pathway to heightened abilities only hinted at in their Earthborn lives emerge from within them. Grady finds she is so much more than "white trash" born of alcohol addictions. Garrett finds life outside his addiction to academic success, for a while. But the people of Earth are in crisis. Oceans writhe under the impact of a continent of ice sliding into the seas. Sea levels are rising rapidly. Ocean currents are disrupted. Garrett believes his research models will make a difference and discovers it is possible to return to Earth and his live-in girlfriend. In spite of warnings by an Elder of Eressa, Garrett returns to Earth and finds he is the final confirmation of the reality of Eressa's approach from the other side of the veil. Michael Hayden and his family enter the fray as multinational powers leverage for trade advantages. Elliot, the council's most powerful member, realizes Eressa's coming means the end of his empire and seeks to protect his power with torture, murder and rape. Long ago, the powerful of Eressa chose non-violence, non-commercial trade, and a vibrant, artistic adventure as the pathways of into life at its highest incarnation. Garrett and Grady are caught in a contest between brutality and love, and the fate of two worlds hang in the balance.