The governor of the sacred island of Korous and his mistress have been killed inside a locked and guarded room. The sole witnesses to the crime--guards who broke down the doors, hearing the screams from within--have gone mad with terror, babbling about ghosts . . . and things worse than ghosts. Dispatched to Korous by the queen, master spies Alec and Seregil find all the excitement and danger they could want--and more. For an ancient evil has been awakened there, a great power that will not rest until it has escaped its otherworldly prison and taken revenge on all that lives. And only those like Alec--who have died and returned to life--can step between the worlds and confront the killer . . . even if it means a second and all too permanent death.