Jennifer faces the triple challenges of being a seventeen-year-old, a genius, and a mage who lives in a world that knows nothing of magic. The Mage Council requires mages to blend in with the conventional world, which, for Jennifer, means keeping a low profile at school. A genius in a regular school always sticks out. Jennifer’s magic abilities remain a secret, but her boredom with school does not. She relieves boredom by reading college textbooks and classic literature during classes. Master Lewis’ evening magic lessons no longer excite her– two years ago, Jennifer surpassed her Master in all aspects of magic.Jennifer stops worrying about boredom and blending in after the brutal torture and murder of her best friend Sarah by a group of sociopathic mages who call themselves Bad Souls. Jennifer organises a cadre of mages to hunt down and capture the Bad Souls. The cadre’s initial successes end when Sergei, Jennifer’s boyfriend, dies in an ambush. Jennifer becomes catatonic, but is awakened a month later by the souls of Sarah and Sergei. Jennifer vows not to fail again. She builds up her physical strength, magical abilities, and tactical planning skills. Future hunts are successful–most Bad Souls are imprisoned, and the leader is killed. But, three cadre members pay a price–the Bad Soul leader cursed them before he died. His death prevents them from finding a cure.Jennifer takes time to experiment with magic now that most Bad Souls are imprisoned. She uncovers a different and more flexible mental pathway for activating magic. The combination of that pathway, great intelligence, and great creativity result in Jennifer becoming the most powerful mage in the UK, and possibly the world. Jennifer meets another mage doing similar magic–an eleven-year-old girl. Lahni, who learned more magic on her own in three months than most Apprentice mages do after two years, becomes Jennifer’s apprentice. Their Master-Apprentice relationship rapidly deviates from the norm–they come to love each other as friends and honorary sisters. They invent and master new magic rapidly. Jennifer gains the ability to track, disable, and capture criminal mages with minimal risk to herself. Her strong belief that good people should neutralise bad people results in her being overloaded with self-imposed duties. She pushes herself too hard, acts rashly out of anger, and imperils her life.
