Synopsis: From the back cover of the Ace first edition: "On a cloudy winter morning in Sandspit Town, twelve-year-old Cloud wakes up as a human girl. Mysteriously, overnight, she has shed the part of her that came from her bear father. But her mere existence enrages her mother's human husband, King Rumble. For King Rumble has bound up the ghosts of Cloud's bear brothers and bear father, the fearsome Lord Stink. A legendary immortal, Lord Stink's spirit had helped sustain both mortal and immortal worlds. But his binding has ripped a hole in the mortal world - a hole that only Cloud can close. Unaware of her purpose, Cloud wants nothing more than to be a normal human girl, to forget the past that made her an outcast to be ostracized and feared. But King Rumble can't forget the changeling who threatens his rule. Terrified of Rumble's wrath, Cloud flees Sandspit Town on a journey that takes her across land and sea - from the watery home of the orrcas to the celestial seat of the prince of heaven. But only by accepting the immortal part of her soul, the divine power of the bear, can she find the strength to face her fears - and save all of the realms in which she treads..."