the troll uses many different types of attack, including magical and non-magical to try and destroy ninette and nigel's show. meanwhile, ninette's latent talent awakens allowing her to share an emotion connection with her audiences and with thomas the cat. it is revealed that thomas is actually ninette's father, and had been permanently enchanted into the form of a cat by an evil master prior to ninette's birth. he had been doing his best to protect his wife and child ever since, but ninette's mother had died by the time of the events of the book. eventually thomas follows a lead back to the troll's hideout on his own. he gets trapped in the troll's magic but his emotional distress alerts ninette to his peril. ninette goes to rescue thomas armed with a revolver with bullets crafted to fight evil magic. while thomas distracts the troll with flattery and praise, ninette is then able to get close enough to shoot the troll. however this frees the troll's earth elemental servants who then try to kill ninette and thomas. jonathon arrives to save the day and the burgeoning romance between the two is acknowledged.