The northern town of Bracebridge is dominated by the never-ending sound of it's aether mines. Toiling men work the earth, extracting the magical and dangerous substance - the source of all power - from the ground. Even at eight, Robert Borrows knows that this is what his future holds.Meanwhile, in an isolated and dilapidated manor known as Redhouse, the precocious Annalise grows up under the care of her guardian. Brought to Redhouse on a mysterious trip by his distraught mother, Robert becomes fascinated with Annalise, for unlike him, she is rich in magic that she keeps carefully hidden, and not quite of this world.But after that same magic claims his mother, Robert flees to London. It is here that he feels most keenly the difference between those hired by the guilds to extract the aether and those who profit from their labors. It is also in London that he runs into Annalise again. Now a revolutionary, Robert wishes to destroy the upper class world that Annalise has come to call her own. But together they learn that their fates were entwined long before they were even born - on an infamous day in Bracebridge when the engines stopped working. And what they discover about that day just might end this age of misery once and for all. Read Less