Allison Beckstrom has willingly paid the price of pain to use magic and has obeyed the rules of the Authority, the clandestine organisation that makes and enforces all magic policy. But when the Authority's new boss, Bartholomew Wray, refuses to believe that the sudden rash of deaths in Portland might be caused by magic, Allie must choose to follow the Authority's rules - or turn against the very people for whom she's risked her life.