Back in the land of Oz, the adolescent boy Liir was last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead, Liir is tended to at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by a silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba"s son? He has her broom and her cape - but what of her powers? In an Oz that, since the Wizard"s departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enought to grow up?