Publisher's Synopsis
Born into a poor Ukrainian family, seventeen year old Anika Litynska has already been forced to face poverty and hardship. When her parents send her to Dark Forest Boarding School, one of the most prestigious and expensive private schools in Alaska, Anika struggles to fit in as a part of the wealthy student body, without revealing the truth about her family's station in life.Just when it seems that everything is going alright and Anika has found friends among her peers, she receives word that her parents' funds for her education are running out. Scared of disappointing her family, and having to return to her home country as a "failure", Anika secures a minimum wage job at a local business to help supplement her parents' dwindling funds. There's just one problem. Anika's boss has been the subject of her classmates' torment and ridicule for months, leaving Anika with the burden of trying to keep him in the dark about her connection to them. After witnessing her classmates' bullying first hand, and convinced that they won't understand her situation, Anika is forced to keep her job a secret from them, even the ones she has formed a shaky friendship with.While trying to keep her school life and work life separate, Anika is thrust into a world that has run parallel with the one she is familiar with for thousands of years. As she tries to navigate and make sense of this strange new faction of life, Anika meets new friends, powerful enemies, and uncovers a dark secret about her family that threatens to tear apart her newfound friendships. How long can she keep living a double life before all of her secrets are revealed? And, who will get caught in the crossfire if or when that does happen?
