The impossible search. Even though she's grown up at the Academy, Paige Verlene has never fit in with her friends, the elves who can master animals, plants, and even humans' minds. After her return from a field case in the jungle, she is faced with a new identity even though her abilities remain a mystery. A magiquaine. The elder who transferred his skills to her addressed her as such: a rare individual who must find his book before others can abuse it. No matter how versed she is in research, as a bookworm and hacker, and regardless of the headmistress directing her to collaborate with a stranger, Paige vows to find this book her own way, following the one lead within her reach. She sets out solo-except the last man she wants to be stuck with is dispatched to bring her back. The last one to help. Dirk Steven first came to the Academy for college, but now that he's been given the job of managing forestry research on campus, an altogether different opportunity of a lifetime is thrust upon him. His directive is to follow the head librarian's daughter-retrieve her, according to his boss's boss-and take her to a meet with a professor whose goals aren't clear. Paige isn't an object to collect, though, and he's more a lumberjack than a bodyguard. As he agrees to find her, to help her, there's no way they can avoid the attraction they've denied for so long. Thrust together on a trip halfway around the world, it is hopeless to repel each other as the opposites they are. Because they must come together before the threat of a stalker stops a long-lost text. One book that could determine the course of what could very well be war...