Jiovanni Ward's world is falling apart. First, his father is murdered. Then, his mother develops a brain tumor that is slowly killing her, and while she lays dying, his blood begins to burn. Sworn by his father to seek out the guild no sooner than his sixteenth birthday and pressured by his mother to not seek it out at all, Jiovanni must deal with the growing pressures within himself and within his family...see the prologue for more detail.