MAGIC IS BACK By 2053, the return of magic to the world has filled the streets of Chicago with beings and creatures from mythology. For those in the politically dominant mega-corporations, the underworld, and everywhere in between, it is a time of chaos and wonder, and opportunities ripe for the taking. For fifteen-year-old Peter Clarris, transformed by his Awakened genes from a human to a troll, the forces of magic are a curse to be combated with science. Torn from the comfortable biotech fast-track of his childhood, he becomes an outcast, shunned by friends and strangers alike. Now, living among the outcasts - the underclass of orks and trolls, the criminal societies of gangsters and shadowrunners - he grows up pursuing the elusive means of controlling his own genes, and ultimately his own destiny...