The wickedness we pursue is not murder, but murder�s source, Messenger said. �It is hatred we pursue. Hatred.
� Are you one of the wicked? Have you sinned, and gone unpunished? Then the Messenger of Fear is coming for you. He�s going to offer you one terrible game. But will you play . . . or pay? If you win, you can go free. But if you lose, you must live out your greatest fear.
Mara is still adjusting to her role as the enigmatic Messenger�s apprentice. She must face the worst horrors of intolerance, cruelty and injustice: she, as much as any of the people Messenger pursues, is being punished. But Mara has a secret, and it�s beginning to overpower her: she wants to touch the Messenger, the boy who is not to be touched.