Returning for his second year at the Avalon Academy school of magic, all Kuro wants is to leave his past behind and be like any other young wizard. But life as a thief was poor preparation for the trials of friendship and schoolwork and his hopes are frustrated by deluge of inconvenient mysteries, unprovoked attacks, and unexplained burglaries. Aided only by his fellow Autumn Lodge misfits, who are as much hindrance as help, can Kuro avoid expulsion and arrest long enough to prove his innocence, and maybe even pass some classes?

Living in secret and stealing to eat is a hard life, but it's all Kuro has ever known. Fear and necessity forged him into the finest young thief in in the wizard kingdoms. Nobody can hide forever, though, and a run of poor luck lands Kuro in a place where his quick hands and quiet feet count for nothing: Avalon Academy, school of magic. Out of his depth and unable to escape, can Kuro find a place among the other misfits at the school, or will his past return to ruin the one chance he has to leave his life in the shadows?