A thrilling middle grade fantasy about a girl who must participate in a deadly game with a ragtag team of players to save her grandfather from a terrible fateperfect for fans of James Riley and Shannon Messenger!

In the opulent, sinking city of Dantessa, the Great Game rules all. Pia Paro believes that so long as you follow the rules, you always have a chance at winning. But after her beloved Gramps is sentenced to a life of servitude, Pia accepts a dangerous offer and joins a team of players seeking to win the most perilous game of all: Noctis.

The SeafoxesPias new teammatesare unlike anyone shes ever met. Theres brash, bold Carlo; macabre Serafina; kindhearted Pasquale; and their dashing ringleader, Vittoria. Each has their own reason for playing, and soon, Pia begins to question all her long-held beliefs. Maybe the rules Pia once trusted to lift her up have only been keeping herand thousands of others like herdown.

As she struggles with these revelations, Pia must survive a gauntlet of clockwork soldiers, perilous underwater adventures, and even a game against Death herself. But with Pias grandfathers life at stake, Pia must finally decide whether shes brave enough to not just break the rules, but to change the very nature of the Game.