In this extraordinary stand-alone novel, the authors and translator of Vita Nostra--a "dark Harry Potter on steroids with a hefty dose of metaphysics" (award-winning author Aliette de Bodard)--return with a story about creation, music, and companionship filled with their hallmark elements of subtle magic and fantasy. Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer?