Wild child Isidora Avramov is a thrill chaser and an adept demon summoner. When she’s not designing costumes and new storylines for the Arcane Emporium’s haunted house, she’s nursing a secret, conflicted dream of ditching her family’s witchy business to become an indie fashion designer in her own right. But when someone starts sabotaging the celebrations leading up to this year’s Beltane festival with dark, dangerous magic, a member of the rival Thorn family gets badly hurt --- throwing immediate suspicion on the Avramovs. To clear the Avramov name and step up for her family when they need her the most, Issa agrees to serve as a co-investigator, helping none other than Rowan Thorn get to the bottom of things.

Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one --- in part because she hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams. But when a spellcasting tournament for which her family serves as arbiters approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back.