Rome was the center of the most powerful empire the world had ever seen, but that didn't stop it falling to Alaric the Goth, his horde of barbarian tribesmen and their wild spell-casting shamans. Having split the walls with their sorcery and slaughtered the inhabitants with their axes, the victors carved up the empire into a series of bickering states which were never more than an insult away from war. A thousand years later, and Europe has become an almost civilized place. The rulers of the old Roman palatinates confine their warfare to the short summer months, trade flourishes along the rivers and roads, and farming has become less back-breaking, all due to the magic, bestowed by gods, that infuses daily life. Even the barbarians' gods have been tamed: where once human sacrifices poured their blood onto the ground, there are parties and picnics, drinking and singing, fit for decent people and their children. But it looks like the gods are going to have the last laugh before they slip quietly into ill-remembered obscurity. . .

Landon Snow and his two sisters join a quest to find the Island of Arcanum, where the animals of Wonderwood are imprisoned and the the evil shadows of Malus Quidam lurk.

From the comforting glow of Baker Street gas-lamps to the gloom of the ocean's depths, Sherlock Holmes lays bare the secrets of men, monsters and evil in twelve new tales of the bizarre, the uncanny and the arcane.

TIMOTHY...A VILLAIN? After learning how his powerlessness can be used as a weapon in the world of magic and defeating Nicodemus's plan to overthrow the government, Timothy travels to a war-torn dimension to help the Wurm, fierce magicians and warriors descended from an ancient dragon race. But while covertly gathering information on the age-old feud between the bloodthirsty Wurm and the Parliament of Mages, Timothy discovers a very different story -- one of peaceful Wurms and a conspiracy led by the Parliament of Mages. But that's not the only problem on Timothy's hands. The mysterious girl he spotted in SkyHaven is the granddaughter of Nicodemus, and she's challenging Leander's right to be Grandmaster of the Order of Alhazred. And despite Nicodemus's death, mages are still disappearing...and this time someone is painting Timothy as the villain.

Timothy and Cassandra have defeated the sorcerer Alhazred but in so doing have weakened the dimensional barrier which had prevented the Wurm from attacking their world.