in 1878 two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent sance from this moment on their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one anothertheir rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers but with terrible consequences in the course of pursuing each others ruin they will deploy all the deception their magicians craft can commandthe highest misdirection and the darkest scienceblood will be spilled but it will not be enough in the end their legacy will pass on for generationsto descendants who must for their sanitys sake untangle the puzzle left to them