Root Karbunkulus has a few enemies:

 

The Finks because she rescued the children they had stolen.

 

The Aunts because how dare she quit scavenging for them.

 

And the Badges because they’re tired of arresting her all the time.

 

Her odds of surviving the streets of Shade Howl are dwindling daily. She could really use something decent this Birthday. Preferably an Ember Stamp that could bestow her with powerful magic. But that’ll never happen because Birthday is a national holiday for all those born. Everyone. Young and old and in between. And that means gifts are swapped, at random, from person to person all day long and she has no idea what her Ender Gift will be.

 

But something very strange and miraculous happens to Root this Birthday. Somehow, she ends up with, not one but three Ender Gifts. Three! The very idea! Why it's unheard of!

 

Gift One is a tiny woman in a box with a decidedly fancy invitation to a decidedly official order called the Clade of Acquisitions. Gift Two is a mysterious coin. And Gift Three…

…is an Ember Stamp!