Ashake is an acolyte in the temple of Ifa, yearning for the day she is made a priestess and sent out into the world to serve the orisha. But of all the acolytes, she is the only one the orisha refuse to speak to. For years she has watched from the sidelines as peer after peer passes her by and ascends to full priesthood.

Desperate, Ashake attempts to summon and trap an orisha - any orisha. Instead, she experiences a vision so terrible it draws the attention of a powerful enemy sect and thrusts Ashake into the centre of a centuries-old war that will shatter the very foundations of her world.