2049

The elves returned from the stars and broke reality. Magic came back. People Changed into beings out of myths and legends.

Humans decided those "strangelings" needed to be killed or caged. 

And the Underhill Railroad said no. 

Grad student by day, smuggler by night, Aisling wears the illusion of a lynx-like strangeling to get her charges to safety. Arson, sabotage, or dangerous magic-she'll do whatever it takes to get her runners through Minnesota's forests to a refuge outside the Stolen Cities. She owes them, after all; it was her mother's people that caused all this. 

Then a teenager she used to babysit Changes, and the mission gets personal.

Captain Arthur Hart stands directly between her and the safe zone. He's chased smugglers for four years, ever since one irradianced him. Antlers grew from his forehead and a monster woke inside him, wanting only to hunt down the woman who caused this. Now he commands Strangeling Brigade, fighting cryptids and his own feral instincts. 

And just past the safe zone, in the occupied Twin Cities, an exiled, abdicated elven prince senses magic he thought entirely lost to his people. Connor's been surviving life in the city formerly known as Minneapolis one drag show at a time, but something is happening outside the city, and it might be reason to live again.

One wants justice. One wants hope. One won't leave anyone behind. 

Getting along would be unthinkable. Falling in love? A catastrophe. But in a world with both space-ships and dragons, everything will go wrong. 

Firefly and Princess Mononoke collide in alien-occupied Minnesota. Found family, snarky geeks, the road trip from hell, and a disaster bi love trio converge into an epic space opera wearing urban fantasy flannel.  

Content notes: This story takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. Things have gone wrong. Expect graphic fantasy violence; body horror and transformation; war and persecution; PTSD and trauma; loss of bodily autonomy; child, parent, and animal death (in backstory); discrimination; imprisonment & forced labor; sexual content; fluid sexuality and non-traditional relationships; and drug & alcohol use. 

This book was human written and the first edition came out in June 2022, before AI writing tools were available. Some AI editing tools were used on the revised text.