In the tower of Count Stelli in the ancient city-state of Agora, two children meet, apparently by chance. Mark has escaped the plague ravaging the city’s slums, and Lily is the servant who takes care of him. At first, their only goal is survival: in Agora everything can be bought and sold, debt is death, and Mark and Lily must barter their labor for their lives. When Lily escapes the tower for the city outside, Mark stays on as a servant to the count. Though Mark and Lily choose two very different paths, their lives remain strangely intertwined by the long-held secret prophecy of the Midnight Charter. What is the charter? Who knows of its power, and why are Mark and Lily destined to uncover its meaning?

As the mystery of the charter unfolds, Mark and Lily face dangerous enemies and shifting loyalties --- and a choice that could shape the future for all of Agora.

THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER © Copyright 2011 by David Whitley. Reprinted with permission by Roaring Brook Press . All rights reserved.