Orphans. Runaways. Thieves. The Avians don't ask questions about a girl's past. Or her age. They need glider pilots, and the smaller the better. Raisa is fourteen. Born to a line of powerful silk merchants, her rebellion against an arranged marriage is doomed. The Avians are her only alternative. Mel is the young servant blamed for Raisa's disappearance. She meets an Avian recruiter and seizes the chance to spite her employer. When Mel and Raisa are sworn in with two other girls to form Blackbird squad, their simmering conflict undermines the whole team. The flying is difficult, the discipline is fierce, and the older pilots don't even bother to learn their names. The Blackbirds are starting to look like the weakest squad in years. Then a deadly accident reveals the truth: only the best survive.