Prologue

A Winner of the Pearson Prize for Fiction, 2010! Benjamina James was like any other fifteen-year-old until one day a bolt of blue lightning struck her on the soccer field. She soon finds she has strange abilities including shooting fire and lightning from her hands, and that she can blend completely into shadows without a trace. With the help of an old family friend, "Bennie" learns she has been marked as a Guardian of the Light: one of an elite branch of defenders who keep the forces of evil at bay and hidden in darkness. But as Bennie learns to develop her powers she discovers dark secrets about her new-found friends, her family, and even herself.