Ethan Stanwood may have prevailed over dangerous foes before, but his troubles are just beginning... Ethan arrives in Rome, but his enemies have followed him there, Professor Colbourne being first among them. Colbourne is still intent on getting the prototype that Ethan has been tasked with protecting and returning to his father. But his father's actions and secrets catch up to Ethan, causing chaos and danger wherever he goes. It is not only Ethan's father whose life has been shrouded in secrecy, but his deceased mother as well. A friend of his mother's family has returned to help Ethan,...

Ethan Stanwood has survived yet another series of horrible calamities, but his fortitude may finally run out... Aloysius Hardwick has plans for Ethan that could very well destroy any possibility of him finding his father at long last, at a time when it is most vital that he be reunited with him. The ranks of fully accomplished dark witches have dwindled to a perilously low number. And Hardwick is more motivated than ever to bring Ethan into the fold and transform him from the heir to the Order of the Crystal Star into a Septimo, a witch capable of killing another with magic. Ethan's...