It’s been a long year for Sage and his friends, and all of Junction, California, and it’s not over yet. Freddie's school of magic is still a mystery, and figuring it out would be enough work, but the investigation leads them to the mysterious coded notes of Junction’s long-dead first magical artist, and then to the last place any of them ever expected to end up: the nineteenth century. Worse yet, when they get there Fluke is missing, and Sage isn’t sure he can get back home without his best friend. Now—or is it then?—they just need to find Fluke, decode the notes, avoid changing the past, dodge evil Uncle Jonathon and the shady French nobleman at his side, and maybe most importantly, find their way home. But there's more in the past than trouble, and Gideon might want to stay there with his wife. If Sage has to leave him behind, is it worth returning to his own time at all?