The blood ceremony will determine whether Deka will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs. But on the day of the ceremony her blood runs gold, the color of impurity. A mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki-- near-immortals with rare gifts. Accepting means leaving the only life Deka has ever known. Her journey holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be-- not even Deka herself. -- adapted from jacket.