MiddleGate

Unbeknownst to 10-year-old Wil Wychwood, he comes from a long line of mages. But with the death of his grandmother and his world upended, Wil moves to live with “the Aunts” and finds himself in MiddleGate—where buses drive through brick walls and leaning houses dot streets named Wog’s Hollow and Half Moon Lane. The 494-year-old school, Gruffud’s Academy, is out of this world too. With classes in numeristics, botanicals, cartology, and verbology, this is no ordinary school. Yet something dark brews beneath the veneer of this idyllic hidden city.

After saving the sacred snakes of Narcisse, Wil Wychwood and his cousin Sophie Isidor are hailed as the new heroes of MiddleGate. Yet their journey is far from over. Wil knows the black medallion he inherited once belonged to an ancient secret society, the Serpent’s Chain. But no one seems to know the story behind the medallion.

Cousins Wil Wychwood and Sophie Isidor unearth yet another dastardly scheme from this dangerous secret society. Now the Serpent’s Chain plans to seize the Manitoba Legislative Building – or The Palace of the Blazing Star, as it is known in MiddleGate.

Cousins Sophie and Wil certainly have their hands full. Wil's old friend Mr. Bertram is blamed for the disappearance of a priceless manuscript and lands in jail, things are up in the air at Auntie Vis Fortune-Telling with a new competitor next door, Sophie and Wil have exams to study for, Aunt Rue doesn't get the new job at the Secretariat after all, and their neighbor, Mrs. Oleander, falls deathly ill.