While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.

On a visit to Namorn to visit her vast landholdings and her devious cousin, Empress Berenene, eighteen-year-old Sandry must rely on her childhood friends and fellow mages, Daja, Tris, and Briar, despite the distance that has grown between them.

Four students who do not fit in at their small-town middle school decide to create a third party for the student council elections to represent all students who have ever been called names.

When young David moves into his new home, he decided that it would be more fun to go exploring the mountains around him, rather than unpack. When he reaches the summit of the mountain, he is met by a phoenix. After getting over their initial fright, they become good friends, and the phoenix decides to show him the magical wonders of his world. During their adventures there are many narrow escapes!

Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong, manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, and the hurt and self-doubt that it causes them.