When 10-year-old Mourning huddles on the cold hard ground each night with a rumbling tummy and barely a rag for warmth, the last thing she dreams about is a family. As far as she is concerned, the strays are her family. She’s lived among them all her life, stealing food and hiding from the kingdom guards. Most importantly, the strays keep her most dangerous secret – that she is not only an orphan, but can also do magic. But when Mourning is thrown into the castle dungeon after a particularly catastrophic food raid, she finds that she has another family – a rich and powerful family who promises to take her in and keep her safe. While Mourning struggles between who she really is and who she was supposed to be, she suffers a series of unusual accidents, making her wonder if she could ever fit into this new life . . . or perhaps she was safer on the streets.