This is an exhilarating and epic debut novel that tantalises the senses and bombards the imagination! Little donkey, little donkey, on a dusty road... . With this haunting memory of her mum's bedtime lullaby echoing through her mind, Ella Stone has arrived at Blackcrowns Boarding School in Canterbury. She still has no answer to where her parent's bodies are after their mysterious disappearance in Courcheval, France. Nor can she explain why suddenly the birthmark on her wrist has changed colour. The discovery of her birthmark, carved into the surface of an altar in the School's cellar, forces Ella to realise that the chain of events leading her to Blackcrowns in the first place, is now at its final stage. The threat of sacrifice forces Ella, her step-brother Jack and new friends Oliver and Harriet, to take their only means of escape through four treacherous realms, beyond The Hall of Infinity hidden below Blackcrowns.

Paul Ferns has been a dancer and choreographer for 25 years, a career that took over his creative writing as a teenager. Now, at 37, Paul is very excited that a story he began to think out as a youngster is to be published.