From the back: Twelve year old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in Bridewell with her father. She looks forward to exploring the old lodge where she stays each year, with its cozy library and maze of passages and rooms. She's also eager to finally solve the mystery of what lies beyond the immense walls that were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills-an evil the towns people are still afraid of. As Alexa begins to unravel the truth about what lies outside the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment. Armed with an unexpected new power, Alexa exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear-and change The Land of Elyon forever. This book was about a young girl named Alexa Daley. Her country was made of three towns that were all inside stone walls. The passages to get to the other towns were also surrounded by walls. All of the buildings were one story high so that no one would be able to get into the towns or out. The walls were made by Warvold (who is now a old man) when he was young to protect his family and everyone in the town from a dark evil outside the walls. Alexa Daley likes going to Bridewell (the town that Warvold stays at.It is in the middle of the other towns,) because it has a three story building in it. Alexa is an adventurous girl who is always getting into trouble with the head guard Pervis. (They don't exactly get along very well.) Alexa brings her mother's magnifying glass to Bridewell even though they are forbidden. She has the only room in any of the towns that you can hop up on the window sill and get a peek of the Dark Hills, and the wilderness outside the walls. She is caught by Pervis using the glass to see outside the walls. He breaks the magnifying glass after taking it a few days later. Alexa always is looking for a way outside the wall throughout the story in till she finds out about the Joscastas. They are gems that Renny (Warvold's now dead wife.) used to make. If you had a strong enough magnifying glass you could see what message was inscribed on the Joscata. Alexa is a very intelligent girl. She studies the gems for several days. Alexa finds a way outside the walls using the Jocastas and finds out that she was chosen by Warvold to continue the mystery of the walls and what lays outside them. She discovers that she has a power and that she must use it to save Bridewell, the Dark Hills, and the Land of Elyon.