Washington District of Columbia United Republic of Earth 2712 _____ Twenty-three-year-old Adem Adamend has it rough. His name is ludicrous. His friends are few. And the only thing his "kid genius" status has gotten him at the Interdistrict Bureau of Intelligence is a boatload of extra work with no credit in sight. Then hotshot lawyer Victor Manson is burned to death in his own back yard, and Adem finds himself using his unique skills to piece together the strangest crime he's ever seen. Strange because the only possible suspect Adem can pin the murder on...is a mythical beast. A dragon. Before Adem can unravel the mystery of Manson's death, the Bureau loses jurisdiction to the secretive EDPA, an organization that investigates weird and deadly events. But Adem isn't one for giving up, so he takes it upon himself to delve deeper into EDPA's machinations, into the series of unfortunate events that led to Manson's demise. And what he finds may change the way he views the world -- and himself -- forever.