Calendula Isadora (Callie) is an uncommonly powerful witch with a mind for science. But her independent ways run afoul of her San Francisco coven house, especially when she creates life in the form of a massive golem. And her unseemly affection for her human boyfriend? Such things are simply not done among respectable witchkind.Callie is settling into a new, more private home when the attentions of an enticingly sexy Old Country warlock complicate her relationship. Then Callie's best friend, Logandina, falls ill with a mysterious malady that causes her spirit to waste away before vanishing altogether. Worse yet, this illness appears to be contagious. As Callie delves deeper into the mysteries behind her friend's departure, the witchkind powers-that-be try to keep her from searching for the cause—or culprit. But she defies them with help from her mentor, eight-hundred-year-old Gregorio Andromedus, and her mother, a "wild magic" witch with a talent for the tarot. In this world of coven politics, witchkind parties cloaked with illusion, and devious warlocks, the last thing Callie needs is to find herself creating another life: her own baby.