All Mariamne Niege wants to do is finish her thesis and get a job. Unfortunately, her life isn't that simple. She's a Guardian now, and her visions of the future have grown so intense she is literally blind to the world while in their grip. Not to mention that her Watcher, Hanson, is sleeping on her couch and scaring her roommates when he's not shepherding her through the visions and calming her progressively worsening nightmares. Then the earthquakes start, warning of an even bigger disaster approaching – a disaster that could level her beloved city and claim both hers and her best friend's lives. A disaster that her visions say could be triggered by Hanson.

Hanson has his own problems. He joined the Watchers to atone for a life of lies, but it seems the only way he can protect Mari is to use some of his less than honest talents. She is the only witch who can ease the agony of being a Watcher, and the only woman in the world he wants.

But the distance between them grows daily, and the entire city is uneasy as the earthquakes start. Then Mari's house is broken into and her roommates slaughtered by the Dark. In order to save Mari from the evil that hunts her, he's going to have to become more of what frightens her. It's a hell of a choice, and one he isn't sure he can make…