Zoe is about to discover her true courageous spirit. She must find the key of valor--on the last of three dangerous quests that will force her to confront her darkest fears ... or suffer immeasurable loss.

Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother escape from her mother's abusive boyfriend and end up in the small town of Culpepper, West Virginia, where they use their strengths and challenge themselves to build a new life, with the help of the friends they make there.

"High summer in Acker's Gap, West Virginia--but no one's enjoying the rugged natural landscape. Not while a killer stalks the small town and its hard-luck inhabitants. County prosecutor Bell Elkins and Sheriff Nick Fogelsong are stymied by a murderer who seems to come and go like smoke on the mountain. At the same time, Bell must deal with the return from prison of her sister, Shirley--who, like Bell, carries the indelible scars of a savage past....

The West Virginians from Grantville have met many historical personages since the small town was flung back in time and into a new universe. But the down-timers have too. Cardinal Richelieu cannot decide whether he likes Charleton [sic] Heston or Tim Curry better as Cardinal Richelieu. So, when the King is murdered on the way to see his unborn son, and the Cardinal is gravely wounded, who else would the Cardinal's friends call on but D'Artagnan and...