The Eternal Autumn

Ferrin has escaped the Order's mountain.

By doing so, he has put everyone he loves at risk.

Chased all the way to the Mint border of Glassgrove but no further, he finds refuge in the city of water and glass with the help of two second-year students: one hilarious and quirky, the other guarded and sharp. Both are far more knowledgeable about Orn's legacy than anyone Ferrin has ever known from Goodbeam or Ridgewood.

While at Glassgrove, Ferrin is driven by guilt at leaving his allies at the Academy and by his memories of Hollis, his friends, and his family in Goodbeam. He has one singular wish: to become powerful enough to return safely to all of them. He drives himself beyond all reasonable limits to learn as much as he can in the magical city.

But despite Glassgrove's civic Frames, its majestic and powerful Journiers, and the University's seemingly endless Great Library, Ferrin quickly discovers both the city and the University are riddled with the same historical holes he uncovered in the Order's Deep Index.

For all of Glassgrove's flaws, he finds clues to an ancient and powerful discipline—a craft so old it borders on legend.

Following these clues as best he can, he arrives at a devastating truth: he has but one chance to prove himself in the heights of the eastern mountain, where some nights a single light glows high in the ridges far above the city. Completing the challenge could make him more powerful than any Framer Orn has seen in over a millennium.

But if he fails, he will be back where he started, the Order still waiting for him.