In this adventure, Zelie and Jules face a deadly race to solve a family mystery and a vicious crime that stretches from the jungles of Calcutta to the sewers of Paris. Zelie is often accused of being a witch, but she doesn't believe in magic. Until Jules climbs up from the reeking Parisian sewer and hands Zelie the golden locket he discovered there. The locket once held the magical Snakestone, and Zelie knows that if she can find the stone, she might also find her missing father. But a dangerous secret society are equally desperate to get their hands on the Snakestone and its powers.