Epic high-stakes fantasy meets geopolitical reality.
Anna, a fiercely independent and cynical 21-year-old orphan, runs a mojito kiosk in 1980s Havana. The daughter of Soviet expats, she masks debilitating anxiety and unresolved grief over her parents' recent death with alcohol and sarcasm. Her numb existence is rocked with the arrival of a cryptic duo, Ara and Oragan, who inform Anna that she is an exiled Kalan deity. Punished for an act of cosmic hubris she cannot remember, Anna learns her purpose: liberate Kala from a malevolent entity that uses unholy powers to dominate the civilization.
Convinced she is experiencing a mental breakdown, Anna watches her Havana life unravel as familiar faces assume hidden identities: her best friend, Manny, is a Keeper secretly involved with her closeted brother, Misha; her crush is revealed to be a daemon; and her local nemesis is a newly awakened deity like herself. Stripped of her anchors, Anna is forced to confront her past. She and her unlikely crew of gods, daemons, and Keepers are flung into a desperate return to Kala, where they must endure relentless trials, betrayals, and the horrifying discovery of her own family’s pivotal role in the cosmic power grab. Anna must learn to trust those who want to help and help those who need her the most by realizing that she and her crew have everything they need to liberate Kala.
