The first Ted Gorse adventure - a contemporary fantasy starring Salisbury's unlikeliest hero. On Ted's first day at work he sees an apparition in the Old George Mall. This is not a good start. The job is meant to keep him out of trouble ... His parents have left him in charge of home and the cat for a week. His brother has been catatonic in the hospice for the last four years and he has a final warning from the police hanging over his head. Ted just wants to keep his head down, get a girlfriend, be a good human being, and become a software millionaire, not necessarily in that order. The Thief and the Witch, who wield forces that have shaped his life since before he was born, have other ideas. For them, Ted is the key to destroying the world, or to saving it.