After her father’s death on a mountain rescue mission, Kaylie Ames watched her family shatter. So when Kaylie fled Tacoma for college in faraway Austin, she figured that even the worst campus drama would be a relief. But when her old friend Elliott turns up on his knees in the grocery store aisle, raving about something called a morphis, Kaylie feels compelled to enter Elliott’s unfamiliar world.

Guided by Elliott and his friends, Kaylie signs on to the massively popular online game Edannair. There she discovers a world of beautiful vistas and magical creatures, where people from all over the globe step into the roles of warriors on fantastical quests. But a real-world evil threatens the players: the mysterious Holder, leader of the elite team known as Sarkmarr, is coercing his followers into traumatic offline dares known as “morphis assignments.” To save her friends, Kaylie must infiltrate Sarkmarr and survive the Holder’s tests. Will she find the courage there to keep her own family from falling apart?

There were five and a half million hits on You-Tube when Elliott had typed in “Who is the Holder?” on his phone. Thousands upon thousands of people had joined online forums revolving around the game world called Edannair. Even video feeds of people’s experiences there prompted lengthy discussions on message boards. I shook my head. That’s a lot of interest. Players and spectators from all over the world either had an alias—a character in the game—or were fans of one. They lived Edannair, and most seemed obsessed with the Holder and his group, Sarkmarr. But why? I’d scrolled through hundreds of posts on Elliott’s phone. Others were asking similar questions: “Who really leads Sarkmarr?” “Have You Seen the Holder?” “Will I Survive My Morphis?” “Is the Holder a Shade Gone Rogue?” Recruitment mixed with resistance: “Apply to Sarkmarr!” “MMOs Can Change Your Life!” “How to Shut Down the Holder.” “Sarkmarr’s Elite.” “Hate the Holder!” “The Holder’s My Hero!” It was mayhem, all for a place that didn’t really exist.