Cast in Shadow

Kaylin Neya grew up in Nightshade, the worst quarter of the City of Elantra. Seven years ago she ran from it, certain that something was hunting her. Children were being murdered there, and each victim carried the same strange markings that had appeared on her own skin.

Since then she has taught herself to read and to fight, and she now serves among the Hawks, the force that polices Elantra. Her fellow officers include winged Aerians and immortal Barrani. She has built a life far from the streets that raised her.

Then children start dying again, and the old pattern returns. Kaylin is sent back into Nightshade with a partner she does not trust and a Dragon lord at her side. She also carries a device meant to hold in her powers, which no other human possesses.

The assignment sounds simple: find the killer and end the murders. Doing so means surviving the attentions of people who call themselves her allies. This is fantasy built around a police investigation, with a return to the place she hoped never to see again.