in the two years since its takeover of Obernewtyn, the secret community of Misfits has flourished. Protected by their remoteness, Elspeth Gordie and her allies have worked hard to develop their forbidden mental abilities—all in preparation for their inevitable confrontation with the totalitarian Council. And though their training is far from complete, the Misfits can no longer stay hidden when they learn of the existence of a new Talent—one whose power may eclipse anything they have seen before.

Friend becomes foe and trust is a thing of the past when the Misfits’ most relentless enemy turns Elspeth’s world upside down. Through coercion and mind control, Ariel stands on the cusp of his ultimate revenge—and it falls to Elspeth to rescue a former ally whose mind and body have been manipulated to unleash a plague that will destroy all it touches.

After a kidnapping, Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits are forced to join the rebellion against the oppressive Council, using their extraordinary mind powers. But Elspeth must also seek out clues left by the long-dead seer, Kasanda, vital to her quest to destroy the Beforetime weaponmachines. One clue is lost in the past, forcing Elspeth to travel the Dreamtrails, stalked by a terrifying winged beast, with the cat, Maruman, as her guide and guardian. Only there can she learn more of the Beforetimer Misfits and their enemy, Govamen. Gradually Elspeth realises that her quest is intimately linked to the Misfits' refuge Obernewtyn – its past and its future...

Once shunned as a Misfit for the powers that set her apart, Elspeth Gordie has finally found happiness and love. But when she receives the long-awaited summons to begin her final quest, she must slip out in the night and leave all that she loves behind without saying a single goodbye. Elspeth sets off across the toxic Blacklands with the help of a pack of mutant wolves to find the ancient weapons that once loosed chaos and death upon the world. Those weapons have begun to stir. . . .

In a world struggling back from the brink of apocalypse, life is harsh. And for Elspeth Gordie, it is also dangerous. That's because Elspeth has a secret: she is a Misfit, born with mysterious mental abilities that she must keep hidden under threat of death. And her worries only multiply when she is exiled to the mountain compound known as Obernewtyn, where—for all her talents—Elspeth may finally and truly be out of her depth. Then she learns she’s not the only one concealing secrets at Obernewtyn.

What would a theology of the Church look like that took seriously the fact that North America is now itself a mission field? This question lies at the foundation of this volume written by an ecumenical team of six noted missiologists—Lois Barrett, Inagrace T. Dietterich, Darrell L. Guder, George R. Hunsberger, Alan J. Roxburgh, and Craig Van Gelder. The result of a three-year research project undertaken by The Gospel and Our Culture Network, this book issues a firm challenge for the church to recover its missional call right here in North America, while also offering the tools to help it do so. The authors examine North America s secular culture and the church s loss of dominance in today s society. They then present a biblically based theology that takes seriously the church s missional vocation and draw out the consequences of this theology for the structure and institutions of the church.

Elspeth is sent to Sutrium, seat of the totalitarian Council that rules the Land, to seal an alliance between the secret Misfit community at Obernewtyn and rebel forces. She undertakes the journey reluctantly as she has another task at hand: to find and destroy the dormant weaponmachines. Her journey takes her far beyond the borders of the Land and into the heart of the desert region of Sador, where she soon discovers just how much help she needs to complete both her quests!