THE FIRST ONES

The Fire was not a gift. It was a debt. And now the one who lent it has come to collect.

Two years after returning the Fire to the stone, Ada is ordinary again. The pendant hangs cold around her neck. She no longer sees souls. She no longer walks the silver sea. She has learned to live without the weight of the dead.

But the first ones have been keeping a secret.

The Fire was never created by the Keepers. It was stolen-from an ancient being called the Sleeping One, who has been dreaming in the void for millennia. Now the Sleeping One is stirring. Its dreams are becoming wounds in the Veil. And it wants what was taken from it.

To heal the original wound, Ada must sail into the uncharted depths of the silver sea, face the war before the Veil, and witness the first bearer herself-the lonely, ancient being who tore herself apart rather than bear the weight of her own existence.

The First Ones is the epic conclusion to The Fire Chronicles-a West African fantasy about the cost of power, the burden of truth, and the healing that comes when we finally allow ourselves to be seen.