A surprise visitor to the Aerie provides devastating news about Happenstance’s past—but it’s the future that Hap and Umber need to contend with. Their journeys take them on a risky trip to the Inferno to retrieve key pages of Umber’s research, and then to the corrupt kingdom of Sarnica, where Umber’s nemesis has acquired some dragon eggs. Umber wants to study a new magical species, but what starts as a quest for knowledge turns into a dangerous rescue operation. The deft plotting of this action-packed, heart-stopping adventure will pique the imagination and leave readers anxious for the final installment, which releases in February 2011.