Twelve-year-old Jackson Opus is descended from two powerful hypnotist bloodlines, but he has just begun to realize that he can control other peoples' actions with sometimes frightening results--especially when the head of the Sentia Institute plans to use Jackson for his own benefit.

Now a driver in the chariot races, Nic is still a target of the Praetors because of the magical amulet he found, and they will do anything to get their hands on it--and meanwhile, Atroxia is beginning to wake up.

When King Jaron returned to Carthya he brought with him a device that supposedly shows the way to a great treasure, but now everything is going wrong: Castor, the son of an old enemy, is conspiring against him and wants the throne for himself, his fiancée, Imogen, seems to have turned against him, and the Prozarian Monarch has invaded his kingdom and taken Jaron's castle--but Jaron has a lot of experience at hiding and escaping, and he is not willing...