Caleb learns that Elyon's adoptive parents, the Browns, are being held in the forbidding underground prison at Cavigor. He and the Guardians plot a difficult escape: while a distraction from above draws guards upwards, Cornelia will tunnel in from the Infinite City below. But one slip and Phobos will discover the rebels' secret subterranean hideout.

When Caleb's best friend Aldarn accidentally becomes hypnotized by Elyon and agrees to sign a peace treaty, Caleb has to fight him for the position of leader. Meanwhile, after leaving their baking duties for the school bake sale to Blunk, the Guardians enter a trap filled with Larveks and they must defeat them before the rebels get eaten.

Cedric blocks the village's water source in the hopes that thirsty Meridianites will break down and reveal the location of the rebels secret hideout. There is fresh water in a nearby lake inhabited by an elusive creature called the Kaithim, which the Guardians have to battle. Cedric discovers the entrance to the Infinite City just before Vathek is able to seal his comrades inside. Aldarn, separated from Caleb and with limited food before the City is inevitably overtaken, makes a tactical decision to charge the Castle. Caleb and the Guardians join the premature attack but the uprising fails when Elyon uses her intense power. Many rebels, including Aldarn and Caleb's father, are thrown in Phobos' dungeons. In the B-story, Hay Lin has recurring nightmares about being Elyon and trapped on a throne.