Every magic has a taste–from the cold, cloying sweetness of the Winnowrooks to the hinted rot and bitter earth of the Mire witches. To know the flavor of one's magic is to know the poison that will control it.

Oswin Brixby is a traveling Meister, accompanied by his dearest childhood friend and helpmate, Lia. Trained in the subtle magics mastered by the people of the Hooded Wood, his extensive knowledge of the natural and unnatural world gives him a free pass to the journeyman road–the one and only protected path between the varying territories, Above and Below.

Brixby believes he is content in his wandering trade, though in his heart of hearts, he wonders what his true purpose should be. Despite this nagging doubt, there has never been a reason to change or deviate from the known. That is until Lia stumbles onto two foundlings in the pitch-black depths Below. A boy and a girl whose magic tastes of something far too dangerous to be left alive.