Chapter Summaries

Klein settled into a routine of study and practice while Audrey accidentally let Susie drink her first Spectator potion, then brewed and drank another. On a rainy Friday, a visitor arrived at the Blackthorn Security Company to commission a task.

• Klein completed a funding application, received Dunn Smith's approval, and began following a regular schedule of study, meditation, and shooting practice.
• Audrey tried to drink her first Spectator potion but left Susie alone with the laboratory door; Susie drank the potion after knocking over the cup.
• Alger Wilson told Sians he had chosen to become captain of the Blue Avenger and patrol the sea in service of the Lord.
• Audrey prepared a second Spectator potion and drank it in small sips.
• On Friday, a man in a wet formal suit entered the Blackthorn Security Company and asked to commission a task.

Klein and Leonard took a commission from Butler Cully to help locate the kidnappers of Little Eliot, the son of tobacco merchant Mr. Vickroy. Leonard chose Klein as his partner, and they prepared to investigate the kidnapping.

• Rozanne told the tall, thin visitor that Blackthorn's security personnel were away, and he left in disappointment.
• Klein read that the criminals responsible for Welch and Naya's murders had been caught, then reflected sadly on their deaths.
• The visitor returned and explained that a citywide shortage of security personnel had followed the Howes Street murders.
• Leonard met the visitor, Butler Cully, who offered 100 pounds to locate Little Eliot's kidnappers and 200 pounds for a successful rescue.
• After Cully and Leonard signed the contract, Leonard asked Klein to join him on the assignment, and Klein agreed.

Klein and Leonard used Elliott's clothes and Klein's dowsing ability to track the kidnapped boy to an apartment. Klein sensed three armed kidnappers and Elliott inside, while Leonard prepared to confront them by reciting a poem.

• Klein asked Cully for Elliott's unwashed clothes and an accessory, and Leonard explained that they needed them to track the boy.
• Cully gave them Elliott's photograph, clothes, and storm amulet, then described the three kidnappers as ordinary but armed.
• Klein used Dowsing for Objects to guide a hired carriage to the building where Elliott was being held.
• Klein followed the cane's direction to a third-floor apartment and used Spirit Vision to confirm three kidnappers and one hostage inside.
• Leonard set down Elliott's clothes and began reciting a poem before confronting the kidnappers.

Klein and Leonard rescued Elliott Vickroy from his kidnappers, but Klein later realized that the familiar, indifferent gaze he sensed during the rescue had been connected to the Antigonus Family’s notebook. A nightmare featuring the notebook and a message about death left him recognizing that his earlier encounter had revealed its presence.

• Leonard used a chant to put the kidnappers to sleep, and Klein helped subdue their accomplice when he arrived with bread.
• Leonard and Klein freed Elliott, bound the kidnappers, and sent Klein to find the police and notify the Vickroy family.
• After waiting with the police, Leonard and Klein left before the Vickroy family arrived, and Leonard explained Klein’s expected share of the reward.
• Klein returned home, spent the evening with his siblings, and later woke from a nightmare about a black notebook bearing an image of The Fool and a line about death.
• Klein realized that the familiar gaze he had sensed during Leonard’s chanting was connected to the Antigonus Family’s notebook.

Klein’s dream led him to identify the room opposite the kidnappers’ as the place where the Antigonus Family notebook had appeared. He joined Dunn and the Nighthawks in searching it, where they found a grotesquely bloated corpse and Klein vomited at the sight.

• Klein hurried to the Blackthorn Security Company and told Dunn Smith that he recognized the room from a dream as the place connected to the Antigonus Family notebook.
• Dunn assembled Klein, Leonard Mitchell, Old Neil, and Frye and led them to the building where the kidnapping had occurred.
• The Nighthawks confirmed that the room was empty of people and magical auras, and Leonard broke its lock.
• Dunn opened the door, revealing an old woman’s swollen, rotting corpse in a rocking chair beside a blazing fireplace.
• Klein was overcome by the stench and vomited.

Klein and the Nighthawks investigated the home of Katy Stephana Bieber, where clues pointed to her missing son, Riel Bieber, and the lost Antigonus Family Notebook. They identified Riel and began searching for him, while Klein learned that a supernatural force may have deliberately delivered the notebook to him; Riel and the notebook remained missing.

• Klein recognized the room from a vision and heard the names Hornacis and Flegrea, while Frye found no obvious cause of Katy Stephana Bieber's death.
• A police officer reported that Katy and her son, Riel Bieber, had been missing from their neighbors' sight for over a week, and Old Neil used a ritual to produce Riel's portrait.
• Klein tried to divine Riel's location with his cane, but an unknown power interfered, so Dunn ordered Riel placed on the wanted list for murdering his mother.
• Dunn and Frye searched Tingen City's bars for Riel, while Klein and Old Neil returned to the Blackthorn Security Company.
• Old Neil proposed that a power connected to the Antigonus Family Notebook had delivered it to Riel and erased the trail, and Klein suspected Riel was a descendant of the Antigonus Family.

Klein learned that the Secret Order would focus on finding Riel Bieber, easing his fear of the Antigonus Family Notebook. After earning ten pounds from a commission, he planned to visit the Divination Club and begin acting.

• Old Neil told Klein that the Secret Order would likely pursue Riel Bieber and leave him alone, and Klein hoped the danger had passed.
• Mrs. Orianna said the old butler had paid two hundred pounds for the rescue commission, with Klein receiving ten percent of half the fee.
• Old Neil explained that his twelve-pound weekly salary was often insufficient for Beyonder materials and that underground markets sold them.
• Klein offered to lend Old Neil money, but Old Neil declined and said he would teach Klein ritual magic the next day.
• With his ten pounds, Klein went out to seek the Divination Club while Captain Dunn was still away.

Klein joined the Tingen City Divination Club, registered as a diviner, and attended Hynas Vincent’s lesson on astrolabe divination. The chapter ended as Hynas offered to teach magic mirror divination, a method Klein considered unsafe.

• Klein paid five pounds to join the Tingen City Divination Club and registered to offer divinations for two pence.
• Angelica Barrett introduced Klein to Hynas Vincent’s astrolabe lesson and brought him Southville coffee.
• Klein used Spirit Vision to examine Hynas and listened to his explanation of astrolabe divination.
• Edward Steve told Klein that middle-priced diviners attracted the most customers, so Klein raised his price to eight pence.
• Hynas Vincent emerged with a silver-plated mirror and offered to teach magic mirror divination, prompting Klein to worry about its safety.

Klein listened to Hynas Vincent explain orthodox Magic Mirror Divination and spent the afternoon guiding club members away from dangerous mystical practices. The chapter ended with Glacis urgently asking to see Klein again because he credited him as a miraculous doctor.

• Klein listened outside the conference room as Hynas Vincent explained how to perform Magic Mirror Divination safely by praying to an orthodox deity.
• Klein returned to the conference room, where Edward Steve discussed how divination predictions could be vague and biased toward survivors.
• Klein advised club members throughout the afternoon but received no requests to perform divinations before leaving.
• Edward Steve encountered Glacis, who described recovering from a severe illness after taking medicine from an apothecary recommended by his wife.
• Angelica told Glacis that Klein Moretti had joined the club, and Glacis asked her to arrange another meeting with him because he considered Klein a miraculous doctor.

Klein gave most of his unexpected five-pound bonus to Benson and Melissa, encouraging Benson to study accounting and grammar and agreeing to buy Melissa a dress. The next day, Old Neil took Klein to his home to demonstrate ritualistic magic, revealing that he intended to use it to settle a thirty-pound debt.

• Klein told Benson and Melissa that his five-pound bonus came from urgent work and gave the money to them.
• Benson chose to spend the extra income on accounting books, while Klein urged him to study grammar and agreed to help Melissa buy a dress.
• Melissa told Klein and Benson that Mrs. Schodde planned to visit, and Benson explained the customs of middle-class calls.
• On Sunday, Klein went to the Nighthawks' headquarters, where Loyao Letting warned him that ritualistic magic was dangerous.
• Old Neil brought Klein to his home, prepared a ritual, and said he would use magic to settle a thirty-pound debt.

Old Neil taught Klein the principles and precautions of ritualistic magic, then performed a prayer to the Evernight Goddess to resolve a bill. The ritual ended successfully, though neither Old Neil nor Klein knew exactly how the debt would be settled.

• Klein questioned Old Neil’s use of magic to handle the bill, and Old Neil reminded him of the Mystery Pryers’ maxim and warned him against contacting unknown beings.
• Old Neil explained how ritualistic magic used candles, symbols, incantations, and a clean spiritual environment, stressing that low-Sequence Beyonders should pray only to orthodox deities.
• Old Neil arranged three candles and other ritual implements, sanctified a silver knife, and sealed the area around the altar.
• Old Neil drew control and elimination symbols on the imitation bill, prayed to the Evernight Goddess for funds, and burned the parchment in a cauldron.
• Old Neil declared the ritual complete and said the bill would be settled reasonably, leaving Klein doubtful about how it would work.

Klein learned more about ritualistic magic from Old Neil, who recovered his thirty-pound debt after returning a lost wallet to Sir Deville. At a lavish banquet, Audrey observed the guests like a Spectator until she spotted Susie watching her from the balcony shadows.

• Klein questioned Old Neil about ritualistic magic, and Old Neil explained that incantations could be improvised if they followed the proper format and expressed their meaning reverently.
• Old Neil and Klein found a wallet containing more than three hundred pounds and waited for its owner to return.
• Sir Deville’s butler verified the wallet, and Old Neil returned it in exchange for thirty pounds, settling his bill.
• At a banquet, Audrey watched the guests and scrutinized their gestures, conversations, and relationships from the shadows.
• Audrey sensed someone on the balcony and saw Susie watching her, causing her composed Spectator demeanor to collapse.

Alger pursued a Listener of the Aurora Order while Klein learned that Riel Bieber had vanished with the Antigonus Family Notebook and continued searching for clues. The chapter ended with Angelica telling Klein that Glacis had called him a miraculous doctor, leaving him bewildered.

• Alger said he was pursuing a Listener of the Aurora Order.
• Jack's father told him about the Creator and a sacred sanctuary, then collapsed in agony and shouted that they were lying.
• Dunn told Klein that Riel Bieber had disappeared with the Antigonus Family Notebook and that the Nighthawks were searching for him.
• Dunn asked Klein to keep going out in hopes of sensing the notebook, and advised him to continue practicing with firearms and building his strength.
• Klein practiced shooting, wandered the city, and visited the Divination Club, where Angelica told him Glacis had called him a miraculous doctor.

Klein used his spiritual abilities to comfort Angelica and deliberately demonstrated pendulum divination to attract clients at the Divination Club. Angelica recommended him to a melancholy woman named Anna, who asked him to divine what had happened to her missing fiancé and his ship, the Clover.

• Klein explained his earlier insight about Mr. Glacis as face divination and used Spirit Vision to notice Angelica’s hidden sorrow, advising her to let her grief out.
• Klein demonstrated pendulum divination over his tea where Angelica could see, hoping she would recommend him to club visitors.
• A melancholy young woman arrived seeking a divination, and Angelica recommended Klein despite his recent arrival at the club.
• Klein met the woman in the Citrine Room, where she introduced herself as Anna and explained that her fiancé and the Clover had failed to reach Enmat Port after leaving the Southern Continent.
• Klein asked Anna which method of divination she wanted to use.

Klein used astrological and dream divination to find that Anna’s fiancé, Joyce Meyer, had survived a calamity and returned to her home. His dream also revealed a ruined mountain palace and a disturbing presence, which he suspected was connected to the Nation of Evernight or the Antigonus Family Notebook.

• Anna gave Klein Joyce Meyer’s details, and Klein’s astrological chart suggested Joyce would face a calamity but survive.
• Klein used dream divination and saw Joyce escape a sea of blood, then approach a house with a toy windmill; he also saw a ruined palace and writhing transparent worms.
• Klein told Anna that Joyce had returned to her home and urged her to comfort him rather than question him.
• Anna hurried home and found Joyce waiting at the door; she embraced him, astonished that Klein’s divination had been correct.

Joyce recounted surviving a pirate attack and a deadly mutiny before returning to Tingen, and Anna told him that Klein had predicted his arrival. After Klein returned home, he began reviewing his recent discoveries and questions, starting with why acting helps digest a potion.

• Joyce told Anna and her parents that pirates led by Nast had robbed the Clover but spared the passengers’ lives.
• Joyce recounted how a violent mutiny killed many aboard the Clover, and how Tris helped the survivors fight back and endure until the violence ended.
• Joyce explained that the Clover eventually reached Enmat Port, where survivors were detained, before he returned to Tingen and reunited with Anna.
• Anna told Joyce that Klein Moretti had divined his return and directed her to embrace and comfort him.
• Klein left the Divination Club, returned home, and spoke with Benson and Melissa about Mrs. Schodde’s visit.
• After his family went to bed, Klein began organizing his notes and wrote down his question about why acting was key to digesting a potion.

Klein reviewed his theories about potion digestion, the limits of a Seer’s abilities, and the uncertain mechanics of his rituals, then recorded questions about the Antigonus Family and Hornacis. He burned his notes to hide his use of Chinese and began a letter to Senior Associate Professor Cohen Quentin asking for information about Hornacis’s main peak.

• Klein reasoned that acting might help digest a potion by bringing the body, mind, and spirit into alignment with its residual psyche, and he planned to verify the idea.
• Klein considered why Seers lacked direct combat abilities and decided to treat fixed energy levels and complementary powers as his leading explanation.
• Klein analyzed the Luck Enhancement Ritual, questioned who its target was and why its effects differed, and decided to proceed cautiously with further tests.
• Klein wrote down questions about the voices he heard, Hornacis, the Nation of Evernight, and the Antigonus Family’s powers.
• Klein burned his four pages of Chinese notes to prevent anyone from discovering them and resolved to take stock weekly.
• Klein began writing to Senior Associate Professor Cohen Quentin to ask for historical materials about Hornacis’s main peak.

Klein devised a ritual incantation that would let Justice and The Hanged Man send him messages through the gray fog, then entered the mysterious space for the Tarot Gathering. Audrey arrived as a newly advanced Beyonder, and Klein opened the meeting by asking whether they had found any of Roselle’s diary entries.

• Klein gave Melissa a letter for Cohen Quentin to mail, then spent the day studying and practicing mysticism.
• Klein devised an incantation identifying him as the Fool above the gray fog so Justice and The Hanged Man could send requests for leave.
• Klein used the ritual to enter the space above the gray fog and summoned Alger and Audrey to the gathering.
• Klein noticed the dragon symbol on Audrey’s chair and the storm symbol on The Hanged Man’s chair, and recognized that Audrey had become a Beyonder.
• Klein congratulated Audrey and asked whether either of them had found Roselle’s diary entries.

Klein received three pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary from Audrey and Alger, including Roselle’s early choice of the Reader pathway and his discovery of acting. He explained acting to Audrey and Alger, then Alger offered to pay for the answer with information about the Antigonus Family.

• Alger gave Klein two memorized pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary, and Audrey contributed one page.
• Klein read Roselle’s entries about his voyage, arranged marriage, choice of the Reader pathway, and discovery that acting quieted potion backlash.
• Audrey asked what acting meant, and Klein explained that a Sequence potion’s name served as an invitation to become its master by acting like the intended guest.
• Audrey praised the explanation and offered a valuable exchange, while Klein requested more Roselle diary pages or information about the Antigonus Family.
• Alger said he could pay for Klein’s answer and began to offer information.

Klein learned that the Antigonus Family was connected to the second Blasphemy Slate and used the gathering to share information about the Spectator pathway. He then taught Audrey and Alger a ritual intended to let them contact him outside their usual Monday meetings, ending as he gave them its incantation.

• Alger explained that the second Blasphemy Slate appeared at the end of the Third Epoch and that the Antigonus Family rose under the Tudor Empire before the Church of Evernight destroyed it.
• Alger told Audrey that the Spectator pathway continued with Mind Reader and Psychiatrist, but the Psychology Alchemists member he knew had been sunk near Sonia Island.
• Audrey asked what would happen if an ordinary animal drank a Sequence 9 potion, and Alger said it would likely die or become a monster unless it endured the potion.
• Klein asked Audrey and Alger to cooperate in an attempt to let them request leave and contact him outside their usual gathering time.
• Klein taught Audrey and Alger a ritual using food, candles, essential oils, and a silver knife, then began reciting its incantation in Hermes.