Hardened by years of being hunted each St. Stephen's Day in tiny Kilshamble, Ireland, seventeen-year-old Wren, an Augur, is sent as a spy to the home of the most powerful Judge to try to regain control of the ancient, powerful magic her people once held.

When auctioneer Wren Morgan begins cataloging the contents of the Campbell mansion, she's unprepared to find something that can't be appraised - a dead man. When the body turns out to be a criminal with ties to a recent jewel heist, Wren meets Death Bogart, a private eye and part-time bounty hunter. Death is searching for the stolen jewels needed to convict a murderer. Death finds a friend and willing ally in Wren, but they aren't the only ones searching...

In his sermon on St Stephen's Day, a priest from County Cork recalls the now-outdated wren hunting tradition. Boys on the cusp of manhood would be sent out to kill a wren, and later the parish would gather for the burial of the bird. The tradition symbolized the burial of the past, promising a fresh start in the new year. But it was cruel, and tradition, Father Conor concludes, does not legitimize cruelty. Later that day, Conor drives his nephew to...

"Cinder has left to find the truth about Villinelle, while the others are on the hunt for Valos, the evil wizard who is out to destroy all of dragonkind with beasts born from the fiery depths of Crestwood."--