The Fifth Essence

Addie Daulton has never backed down from a challenge. After all, doing the impossible is what makes her a master alchemist. So when she learns that her best friend, James Huntsman, has been banished from the mortal world, she believes she can get him back. But finding James isn't her only problem.

An infectious breed of zombies has appeared in the city, and they're like nothing any necromancer has seen. Addie suspects that alchemy is involved, or more specifically, an alchemist. She strongly suspects her former colleague Neil Dunstan is behind it, using the ingredient she inadvertently gave him.

And if all of this isn't enough, New Magic suddenly vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared two decades ago. With the naming of a new Deacon only days away and infectious zombies targeting former New Magic users, it's not the best time for Rowan to lose his power—magically or politically.

Impossible problems require improbable solutions, and circumstances keep pushing Addie to the same conclusion: the answer is buried in her family history. A history she doesn't remember. Now to save those she cares about, and perhaps the entire city, Addie will have to face her greatest fear. Her past.