Evelyn has always been fascinated by magic. Until, that is, she discovers she is magic. Magic is forbidden in Brielle, and now, so is she. Fleeing her mother's attempts on her life, the hostility and indifference of her closest friends, and the reality she is living a stolen life, Evelyn sneaks aboard a riverboat headed for the coastal city of Middelhaern. There, she can book passage to the mysterious island of Dreggs-home to warlocks and other terrifying monsters whom she'd thought only existed in stories from her childhood. Among them, she hopes to find the man who cursed her family, and with his help or without it, reverse everything that has gone so terribly wrong.