Today witches are hunted at every turn. The Twelve Great Houses have collapsed under betrayal and infighting; they have abandoned their charges, forsaking the very source of their gifts. They teeter on the brink of extinction and their best chance at survival - a five-year-old boy with enough power to topple mountains - disappeared fifteen years ago. That boy has become a man who doesn't remember what he was. The very spell that was woven to hide him from the world also has hidden his true self, leaving him a directionless disappointment who wants nothing more than to spend his life in wonderful obscurity. It is Alexander Starkweather's destiny to restore the Divine Blood to power and lead them into a new age. But before he can become a witch, he must learn what it means to be a man."