Journeying from London to America to rescue her kidnapped friend Jasper, Finley turns for help to English duke Griffin King to balance her dark and light magic while a devious bounty hunter threatens the life of the girl Jasper loves.

London papers scream of dirigible attacks, kraken swarms, and lung-clogging, sulfurous fogs. But a rash of gypsy murders barely rates mention. Lady Amanda is tired of having both her intelligence and her work dismissed. After blackmailing her way into medical school, she catches the eye of her anatomy professor from the moment she walks into his lecture hall. Is he interested in her? Or only her invention-a clockwork spider that can spin artificial...

Sixteen-year-old Finley, a lady's maid in 1897 England, is forced to leave yet another job when the dark "thing" inside her knocks out the brutal son of her employer, and she is taken in by Griffin King, the orphaned Duke of Greythorne, who sees the magical darkness inside Finley and enlists her to join his little group of misfits in a quest to bring down the mastermind behind a rash of crimes committed by automatons.

London, 1897. When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the worst. To save those she cares about, Emily must confront The Machinist's ultimate creation -- an automaton more human than machine.