For those who deal in the fate of the world, salvation and destruction are not games of chance. Ernestine "Ernie" Terwilliger never intended to live among the Immortal Dealers, much less to be party to an ongoing battle where the fate of humanity is in the draw of a card. And the stakes have gotten only higher now that a shady new Forger has been crowned. Virginia may be in charge of creating the chaos that makes the universe tick, but her assignments have been noble--each one in the aid of strangers. But when Ernie discovers Virginia's true purpose, she realizes it's going to take an entirely new kind of play to stop her. The game changer lies within a mysterious artifact dredged from the ocean. To unlock its powers, Ernie and her partner, Gabe, must traverse dangerous new realms and uncover the history of Forgers past. Joined in a tenuous alliance with a former enemy and stalked by old friends turned lethal foes, Ernie had better play her cards right--because this time, the whole universe could be destroyed in the shuffle.