In the third installment of New City Chronicles-The Star of Arafel- the ancient prophecy and identity of a numinous girl named Arafel is finally revealed.
The story continues: After the assassination of the Archon, Devan Elaniel, the carmelineal Valen is arrested. Meanwhile, Zack Waters remains imprisoned in the Citadel following his confession of treason. So does Tabitha''s twin sister, Danette, abducted later that evening by Elaniel''s secret police. The gravely wounded Kalina has been miraculously healed by Tabitha and has avoided capture before her identity as a high-ranking ATO operative is exposed.
Due to Tabitha''s machinations, the disgraced CCD Director, Dalen Pythorael, has been stripped of his credentials and his fate rests in the hands of the factional High Council of the Inner Circle. Nevertheless, Pythorael''s investigation into the progeny of the K15 program and the true identity of Tabitha Norean continues. What Pythorael discovers about Valen''s motives fuels the necessity to locate all of Ariel''s sisters before their enemies do. The sisters'' potentially harrowing fate and the urgency to rescue one of them will prove a dangerous challenge for Mark.
Tabitha''s plot to control L2 (LEOH II), New City''s sinister computer system, is no closer to becoming a reality. Complications caused by Elaniel''s death will require Tabitha to reconsider how to obtain his elusive control algorithm. She''ll soon discover that to do so, she must enlist the help of an unexpected ally-and rely on someone besides herself.
Meanwhile, secret protocols initiated after the Archon''s assassination result in the release of the remaining carmelineals, creatures who pose a grave threat to Ariel and her sisters.
The destructive consequences of Tabitha''s schemes, which Ari foresaw and feared, have now descended upon New City.