The Acolyte's Education — Mary C. Findley

Russet faithfully follows her grandmother's clockwork path through the dangerous woods and tries to heed her warnings about the deadly Ravagers. The Benefactress and the Songster prepare their apprentices for the LastNight Festival. Russet encounters an unlikely rescuer and discovers a dying race. She is ordered to stop her childhood friend Gareth from rebelling or pay a terrible price. People are disappearing from her village. A lost race of shining teachers might be their only hope ... but will they have to go through with the Song and the Dance to save their village?