"Smoke and mirrors are for cheap tricks and county fairs, Kenna," he says quietly. "The circus... the circus is where magic and mayhem collide." Nineteen-year-old Kenna Oberman leads a sheltered life taking care of her sickly mother until she's gifted a ticket to the Continent's most beloved circus-Cyrus Hardgrove's Traveling Menagerie for the Magically Minded and Magnificently Curious. Unbeknownst to Kenna, Cyrus Hardgrove has big plans for her. As she's swept into the bedazzling world of aerobatics, lion taming, and ventriloquism, Kenna quickly finds herself the star performer of Hardgrove's spectacular show. But is it all just an illusion? When Kenna realizes she's trapped, bound to the Ringmaster by a dangerous spell, she turns to the only person not enamored by her spine-chilling gift: Theo Goodborough. The sword swallower hasn't spoken a single word to her since she joined the traveling carnival, but he might be her only chance at freedom.