Book Two

While Niko “Spiffy Rings” continues to refine his gleam-dream, Oona Elm Tree begins to carve her own path away from her mentor, Sunny Samuels.

When Oona realizes that she and Šárka–her sidekick–are both swooning over a centurion in their latest gleam-dream, Blood on the Waves, Oona turns to Augie to get the skinny on the dashing Roman soldier.

Niko is still gripped by a simmering vengeance, compelling him to hunt down the culprits who had shot him outside Cafe Ola. By hiring a team of writers known as the Duo, Niko considers closure to the most traumatic event of his life via an intense and very personal gleam-dream.

As the younger upstart Oona and the aging Sunny tussle for control of the powerful image-makers union, both women grow suspicious of those within their inner circles. The grinding division of Oona and Sunny is splitting the players involved into two camps, forcing them to choose sides–including Spiffy Rings.

Questions of loyalty loom in a tense atmosphere of suspicions, where whispers of allegiance to Oona and Sunny swirl around Cardinal Street and beyond.