Book Description

Magic...true magic...the power to change the outcome of events and to reshape the world, is something most of us have wished for at one time or another. We all think it might make the difficulties of every day struggles in a cold and uncaring world easier by some degree. Jericho Germanicus could counsel us on such a misbegotten desire; because he knows at least one thing we do not. Covetous power is coveted, and as part of the bargain of having magic, is dealing with those who would, driven by greed, take it at any price. As our story begins Amber Germanicus, Jericho's granddaughter is about to turn 11 years old, and about to awaken to the magic long bred into their family line. To harbor the family gift so special that that it has been sought by a dark and sinister cult named The Silent Legacy for over a decade, Jericho Germanicus has had to live in hiding raising his granddaughter in secrecy and has had to keep the secret of her magic even from her. When magic becomes a threat to family, there are choices that must be made; there are sacrifices which must be made. To save the life of Amber, Jericho, knowing that the fates must keep an even balance within the universe, knows a life must be demanded...Jericho chooses to lay down his own. He had devoted many years of research and study into finding a way to keep the Silent Legacy from stealing Amber's gift...the family gift...and believes that he has found the only answer in his epic plan of self-sacrifice, but even that depends on the cooperation of Madame Zadia Gray, a carnival sideshow psychic. He has given Amber all of the knowledge he can without exposing the secret of her magic. He has found unlikely allies in Madame Zadia and the members of a carnival sideshow to help him carry out his plan. And he has chosen to bear the price of his own life to see it through. All too soon, and a moment too late, Jericho finds that he has been a pawn of the Silent Legacy all along, because they sought a much bigger prize than just his granddaughter...and he has been the vehicle for them to accomplish it...in fact he has placed them within reach of commanding all magic yet alive in the secret corners of the world...if he could let his allies know this before he is taken, they might make much better decisions...but he cannot...which is perfectly according to the Silent Legacy's plan. As the fates would have it, there are things which are even beyond magic...things that course through the minds and the hearts of everyday man. There are memories of broken pasts...there are losses and regrets which lie quietly behind the eyes...there are bonds and trusts which will not be broken because some people have felt the pain of loss before and simply could not bear it again. What the greatest wizard in the world could not weigh the value of, is second nature to those who are named freaks in a carnival side show, shunned of society, scoffed at, and considered less than human by even the least of society. What possibility tomorrow holds has been delivered into the hands of the psychic, a strong man, a dwarf, a dog-faced boy, and the young Amber Germanicus. Each untrained in the arts of magic...burdened by past failures and regrets...aware that the enemy is much larger and more powerful than he or she could even hope to be. The one thing that all can agree upon is that sideshow families stick together, and that Jericho has bound himself to the family. They must save him...or die trying. Set before them is a monumental task with little hope of success, and they quickly know, even as they walk into it, that not everyone will not all come out of this unchanged...as a matter of fact not everyone will make it out unscarred...not everyone will make it out alive.