The Pain Merchants

15-year-old Nya is one of Geveg's many orphans; she survives on odd jobs and optimism in a city crippled by a failed war for independence. Nya has a deadly secret. She is a Taker, someone who can extract pain and injury from others, but with unusual differences. Her sister Tali and other normal Takers become Healer's League apprentices and put their extracted pain into enchanted metal, pynvium. But Nya can't dump pain in this way. All she can do is shift it from person to person. When Nya's secret is revealed to the pain merchants, her principles and endurance are tested to the limit when her deadly powers become the only thing that can save her sister's life.

The first in an epic dystopian fantasy adventure trilogy is an engaging story about family and friendship.