Maggie Stuart, protagonist of The Last Rite and The Red Ring, moves to Montreal, searching for magic. Since the events of her sixteenth year, Maggie has become something of a chameleon. She studies art when finances allow, and otherwise pursues her own work with often stolen art supplies while working at a miserable minimum wage job. Alone but trying not to be lonely, Maggie has learned some slight of hand, but it doesn't come close to satisfying her need to work real magic. Now, she's starting to feel like something is about to change, maybe for the better, maybe for the much, much worse.