A once serving girl, now made thief.
A mapmaker's son, with paint-covered hands and a world to be found.
A queen's daughter who made a deal with the wrong person.
A commoner boy.
And a young girl who wants nothing more than to set out and find adventure.

All five in search of a way to fix their lives. All five willing to risk almost anything to do so.

When five teenagers stumble upon a man who can fix their problems, they each offer something of theirs to him for their own lives and selves in return. Only to find that there are dangerous things lying outside of their kingdom of Lyra that no one ever talked about--including this man. Narrated by an omniscient being called Ink, they are thrown into a plot that involves aspects of each of them that they never knew existed. And are left to wonder about the answer to the question that faces them all:

Is what you want most really worth it?