In the Kingdom of Veythar, power flows in two currents — the Lion Throne and the Sanctum of the True Measure, whose priests preach that the tiny-born are the eternally condemned, destined to serve their betters. The Gifted — rare individuals able to shrink others — are courted by kings, feared by commoners, and bound to the Church’s doctrine. Into this order steps Eryndor, called The Fool by his own wry admission, a poor but razor-minded youth who knows the art of shrinking better than most Gifted, though he lacks the Gift himself. Now living under the roof of his former biology teacher, Miss Lyra Hale — a gentle, absent-minded woman who knows nothing of politics, theology, or the Gift, and who once taught him nothing more dangerous than the parts of a flower — he hopes to awaken her latent power. But Lyra, struggling to pass the very biology examinations she has spent her life preparing for, may prove to be far more dangerous than she knows… especially when her first act with the Gift is to shrink her only pupil, The self proclaimed Fool known as Eryndor.