Magic has long been the foundation of Arkadian society, but an Industrial Revolution has ushered in an unprecedented era of technology and innovation. Steam-powered airships and trains have shrunk the country, and a score of new factories have given work to the desperate masses. Yet all change comes with a price. The skies burn with the acrid fumes of pollution, and many laborers have been maimed by the same machines that once promised them salvation. And perhaps worst of all, the very source of magic seems to be receding in the wake of industrialization. Now, on the brink of the most important presidential election in Arkadia's history, a civil war looms between the cult-like Industrialist fanatics and the anachronistic Magi.
For the young sorceress Evelyn DeShane, the war just became personal. When she returns from the academy and finds her mother murdered in their own home, Eve immediately blames the gangs of "Dusties" hunting down and terrorizing Magi across the country. But as she travels deep into the heart of Industrialist territory in search of the killer, she discovers that her mother might not have been the innocent victim she'd expected-and the rift between the Magi and the Dusties might not be as black-and-white as she'd assumed. Aided only by her childhood boyfriend and her own budding powers, Eve must survive the civil war raging around her long enough to reconstruct the past before its harrowing secrets doom the future.