Every aspect about Sparrow and Night's lives have always been carefully controlled. At birth, you are presented with a miniature hourglass pendant, and the rules are simple: live until the sand runs out, obey the Queen's laws, and stay quiet. Sparrow has accepted her fate. Her hourglass is running dry, and there's nothing she can do about it. But that doesn't stop her from hearing the whispers washing through her rustic village. Strange tales of magic and warfare plague her town like a clan of rats -- spreading and existing, just visible in the corner of your eye. But rats are vermin, a pest that can eat away at a whole country before being discovered. And the Palace is infested.