Chise and Alice Christmas shop in London, and both are stuck when it comes to finding a present for their masters. While walking around, they run into two men from Alice’s past, which prompts Alice to share some of her tragic backstory with Chise. When Chise returns home, she finds Elias is fairly miffed about her leaving without asking, but it turns out, he has been keeping tabs on her through her necklace and a contraption that can see her but not hear anything.  Chise initially admonishes Elias for spying on her and not trusting her, but she comes to understand his fears for her safety and wellbeing.

Shirayuki is proceeding with her duties as a court herbalist despite the fact that Prince Zen's older brother, Izana disapproves of their friendship.  Shirayuki is also dismayed to learn that the prince of Tanbarun, the guy who ran her out of her own country, is coming for a royal visit! She tries desperately to keep out of his way and Zen tries to keep the prince away from Shirayuki.  At one point, Izana tries to get the prince to take Shirayuki back with him, but remembering Zen's threat in the woods in the first volume, the prince declines.  The two do come face to face eventually, and Shirayuki stands up for herself and her friendship with Zen.  Later, Zen tries to settle a dispute between a lord and his subjects, stemming from the nobility hunting special birds the villagers hand raise and train for their livelihoods.   

Ragna is a dragon hunter who follows around the world’s best dragon hunter: a twelve-year-old-girl named Leo. He takes care of her day-to-day needs while she hunts the most ferocious dragons, who can take on many shapes outside of the typical giant lizards. One night, Ragna begins to have dreams of Leo’s death and a shrouded figure who bemoans how he couldn’t save her. He warns Ragna that this reality is coming soon. When the fateful day finally arrives, Ragna rushes out to confront the powerful dragon, only to be brushed aside into the town’s river. As he sinks to the bottom, the shrouded man comes to him again and explains that he is Ragna’s future self, and the only way to save Leo is to give him all the power he has been learning for twenty years. He also tells Ragna that the only way to keep Leo really safe is to team up with Crimson, the dragon monarch, to eradicate all the dragons from the world.

Shirayuki has achieved a status of court herbalist apprentice, and her mentor is a twelve-year old prodigy named Ryu, who has vast amounts of knowledge that can’t be found in books. Zen’s envoy from a fort under his jurisdiction hasn’t reported back, so Zen decides to personally investigate. The Court Herbalists need some medicines in that direction, so Shirayuki tags along. It’s a good thing she does, because all of the soldiers AND the envoy have become sickened, and all the weapons in the fort have been stolen! Shirayuki must suss out the problem and find a remedy for all the men before she becomes afflicted. After Zen and friends return to the palace, they discover that Zen’s older brother, Izana, has returned, and he doesn’t particularly care for how close Zen and Shirayuki have become.

Joel has become ill, and Chise wants to save him, but old age and being siphoned by a sidhe has taken its tole on him. Rather than brew medicine for him, Chise brews a special potion that will allow him to see fae so that he can see his sidhe admirer for a moment. The brewing process is extremely taxing, and the fae world is not in favor of Chise brewing it because they don’t like humans to see them. Nevertheless, despite the hazards to her health and the constant need to watch the potion, Chise is successful, and Joel is able to see his sidhe for a few moments before he passes. The brewing process almost completely drains Chise, and Elias whisks her to the Fairy Kingdom in order to save her. There, a strange doctor, half human, half fae, uses some questionable methods to save Chise.

Book 1: The Flight of the Prince, illustrated by Michael Dialynas

Wynd is trying to be the typical boy in Pipetown - one of the last human settlements that has strict laws against anything magical or with “weirdblood.” Meanwhile, the king is on his deathbed, daily making his son promise to uphold the Blood Laws that have kept the humans of Pipetown safe from magical infection.  The prince decides this isn’t the way he wants to rule, and he sneaks out in the middle of the night to find his uncle, The Duke, who has a much nicer outlook on magical folk.  The king calls back his best enforcer, The Bandaged Man, to root out any other weirdbloods, and, of course, Wynd catches his attention.  Wynd's adoptive mother plans the Prince's escape out of Pipetown in exchange for bringing Wynd to safety, but the plan doesn't go quite as expected. Wynd, his adoptive sister Oakley, Prince Yorik, and Yorik's trusted friend Thorn try to escape the pursuit of the King's Men, and begin to see the world maybe isn't what they thought it was.

Illustrated by Drew Zucker
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At the end of the first book, Canto’s people leave Arcana to make a New Arcana.  The first chapter is a short side-story where Canto frees some fairies from being tortured by an evil witch. Then, we go into New Arcana and see Canto and his friends in their new home.  The Shrouded Man hasn’t come after them, but that’s probably because he has cursed their clocks to slowly wind down.  Canto and a few friends decide to travel back to the Tower and confront the Shrouded Man, hoping to beat their clocks and get the curse reversed.  Along the way, they are attacked by The Furies, and Canto realizes that not all of his friends can come with him.   He reaches his destination and hopes he has found a magic that can take down the Shrouded Man. Canto’s journey is definitely not over here, and the nice cliffhanger will have fans scrambling for the next volume.

Palace intrigue becomes deeper with a royal delegation arriving from another neighboring kingdom. The king of Belquat orders Nakaba’s hair to be died black so they can hide their shame from their new visitors, but instead, Nakaba cuts her hair off, and Caesar does as well in solidarity. Caesar also puts Loki into his personal guard so that Loki is more protected from the king, not knowing Loki’s plans to fight against the Royal Family. Ankara is confined to quarters for the duration of the visit, but that of course doesn’t stop her from venturing out. On one such occasion, she meets an emissary from the visiting party, and she can’t stop herself from seeing a vision. The visitor realizes what power Nakaba has and reveals he knows much about it, which intrigues Nakaba, but the visitor may have more nefarious intentions for Nakaba and her gift. He announces his intention to take Nakaba back to his kingdom, which instantly sets Caesar and Loki against this stranger.

Master Lindel, the mage who trained Elias, invites Chise back to the dragon sanctuary to work on her wand.  While there, Lindel tells Chise of the time he met Elias.  Elias was a wandering creature walking through the woods, and Lindel offered him food and to take him back to his master, where they tried to ascertain what he was, and where he was given the name Elias.  Elias has no memory of a time before he was walking through the woods, but he confesses to Lindel that he thinks he may have eaten humans at one point.  Lindel tells this as a caution to Chise, and so that she will have the courage to speak up to Elias and ask questions of him.  Once her wand is complete, Chise uses it to travel back home with every intention of confronting Elias and making him open up to her about himself and about magic.

Satoru has woken from his 15 year coma and doesn’t remember a thing about the attempt on his life. While outside the hospital where he is receiving care, he find Airi-kun once again, although he can’t remember why he knows her and she certainly doesn’t know him. Then, a jolt of memory slips him back into a coma for another year where his mind works out all the jumbled memories he has from living life before revival. Meanwhile, the killer learns of Satoru’s second recovery, and he plots one last thrill of a lifetime to challenge Satoru and potentially murder more people. It’s up to Satoru to work it all out and save everyone, including himself again.