The season opens with the boys in the White Mountains, training with the free men to enter the Tripod´s games. Only the best will be selected by Julius.

The games are over. The Tripods take Will and Fritz to the City of Gold, leaving Beanpole behind. The city seems to be escape-proof.

Fritz is made a slave somewhere beneath the city, and Will is placed in the service of Master 468, an alien who belongs to the race that created the Tripods.

Will wants to find Eloise again, and Fritz is promoted from his slave life into the Power Elite, where he makes a new friend, Pierre.

As Will and Fritz become more aware of what the Masters have planned for the Earth, they are brought to the Pool of Fire, where they meet one of the most powerful creatures in the City, a Cognosc.

Having read Will´s mind, the Cognosc knows why the boys have trained to infiltrate the City.