This summary section includes Chapter 1: “The Luck Root,” Chapter 2: “The Stardust Pier,” “The Cards of Deadly Fate,” and Chapter 3: “The Bottle Tree.”

Eleven-year-old Ella Durand comes from a family of Conjurors living in New Orleans. She shares her home with a collection of magical creatures and a six-year-old sister named Winnie. She also keeps statues of Catholic saints who act as elderly relatives, chatting to her and giving out advice. Ella’s parents and grandmother are all adept at their magical craft, and Ella has already learned much of their lore. As the story begins, she’s excited to begin her education at the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors. She will be the first Conjuror accepted at a Marvelling school because the Marvellers are suspicious of the magical arts practiced by Conjurors. As Ella explains:

Marvellers were born with marvels, light inside them that allowed them to perform magical feats. They lived in the skies above and away from non-magic-having Fewels … and Conjure folk. They were decidedly not the same. Conjurors were born with a deep twilight inside them, allowing the work of crossing spells and tending to the dead in the Underworld (8).

The Durand family travels to the Starlight Pier to transport Ella to the school located in the sky.