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As Oz Vessalius and his valet, Gilbert, catch up with Uncle Oscar, they fail to notice an alienated Alice (and lurking Break) walk into a trap set by the Cheshire Cat. Danger and fragments of Alice's past are sealed in Cheshire's lair. Oz and Gilbert must find a way to enter the sealed dimension of lost memories with Sharon's help.

"Oz Vessalius makes his high-society debut at the manor of Isla Yura intending to investigate the potential location of one of the stone seals that Pandora seeks. But over the festivities and the secrets that swirl behind the masks of the merrymakers hangs a cloying scent of intrigue. And when the blood-blackened hand of a demon unexpectedly descends on those gathered, a waltz of madness begins-- as if heralding anew an all-too-familiar tragedy"--Publisher's...

"What I have granted them--is the "possibility" of survival. "I want you to be 'happy.'" One man's parting wish succeeds in awakening Oz's heart, long held captive in the depths of his own soul, as though breaking all the chains that bind him"--P. [4] of cover.

"The incuse on Oz Vessalius's chest ticks onward, but the young heir to one of the four great dukedoms directs his gaze back, seeking the facts behind a centuries-old tragedy. Intent on examining the ruins of Sablier despite warnings to scare him away, Oz and his makeshift party of explorers wander through the remnants of the former capital in search of clues to shed light upon the consuming darkness of the past. But in the yawning void where the...

"The earnest emotions of one man cross the divides of space and time, laying bare his life, which was long hidden in the depths of memory. But when these revelations come to pass, the reality Oz has known begins to change and shift into something wholly bewildering. Could the desire in one man's heart have been the very darkness gnawing at everything all along...?"--Page [4] of cover.

"Just when it seems the tragedy of Sablier is on the verge of recurring at Isla Yura's residence, the sinister blade of the Headhunter swings once more. From the darkness where the mysteries of Fianna's House and Humpty Dumpty converge, one truth will come to light: an unmoving reality that is itself so shocking, it seems like an illusion-- Will Oz and his allies ever recover?" -- from publisher's web site.