the second book deals mainly with dorothea macdonald on the scottish world of caledonia. dorothea lives with her father and her brother amid several step brothers and sisters. dorothea's mother and other relatives are killed in an attack by the entity known as hydra, a “metapsychic entity” that fury uses as an assassin. hydra consists of four (formerly five) metapsychics who can mind-meld into a powerful vampiric metaconcert when not leading their normal lives. after this, dorothea realises that she is a latent metapsychic — one with inherent potential but mental blocks that prevent her using her powers, as opposed to the “operant” metapsychics. however, she starts to overcome her blocks and is able to use her mind to protect and heal herself. meanwhile, paul remillard is preparing for human entry into the milieu and is in line to become the inaugural first magnate of the concillium. when his rival's wife is killed after being shoved into a trash compactor in an apparent suicide disguising her murder by hydra, a hold is put on human entry into the milieu for 1,000 galactic days. the krondaku investigators suspect the remillards to be involved.