He needs help! Unfortunately, nobody seems interested in what Min thinks, especially after she knocks the emissary unconscious for insulting her brother’s honor. Min knows that Jun would never desert the Space Forces.

Worse, he’s suspected of treason - of abandoning his post to search for a fabled lost relic that has the power to terraform worlds: the Dragon Pearl. He brings horrible news: Min’s beloved brother Jun has disappeared. Then one day, an emissary from the galactic government visits her family farm. There’s little chance she’ll be as lucky as her brother and escape her dull existence. Even now, when humans have spread across the Thousand Worlds, there doesn’t seem to be any place for foxes.

But fox spirits? They have a bad reputation as unreliable tricksters. When humans colonized the galaxy, they brought all the supernatural races with them: dragons, tigers, goblins, you name it. Min yearns to join the Space Forces like her older brother Jun did – to see the galaxy and have marvelous adventures! But that’s not very exciting when you’re stuck on the family farm, sleeping every night in a crowded common room with your snoring cousins, spending every day fixing condensers in the hydroponics dome. And, yes, she has the power to Charm - to manipulate human emotions and make people see things that aren’t there. Oh, sure, like all fox spirits, she can change shape into whatever she wants: human, fox, even a dining table. Min is just your regular teenaged fox spirit, living with her family on the dusty backwater world of Jinju. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. But you'd never know it by looking at her. THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD MIN comes from a long line of fox spirits.

The dragon pearl yoon ha lee