Brian, Gideon and Jaroslaw were called to Regency HQ and introduced to Howard Jacobson who was to replace Jack who was taking an extended vacation. The mission was to investigate the disappearance of a neersider. Philip LeClair had been under observation for a while. He was believed to be an opener. He went missing just before he was to be approached and invited to join regency.

His theatrical agent is Howard Horn and was a member of a magicians brotherhood called Inner brotherhood of magic which was based in China town in New York and run by a Chung Ling Soo. The first task was for the team to become members of the brotherhood by performing magic tricks at an audition. Howard gave them lessons for an hour. They then went for auditions. Gideon was good but Jaroslaw and Brian barely scraped through.

In the lounge was posters advertising a magic show on the following day at which Chung was to perform. Brian talked to another member Karl Weiss who thought Phillip had gone to Europe. Howard spoke to a Will Crowther who had last seen Phillip going into Chungs office a couple of weeks ago. When Jaroslaw tried to detect broken rooms there was a barrier in the neerside but he was able to sense other neersiders.

Gideon had an interview with Chung who had some ability to sense neersiders. Chung talked about ancestor spirits and claimed to have met them in his dreams. Another member Will Crowther took the team out for lunch. Every time the second floor was mentioned he acted strangely and Gideon detected he was suffering from sort of mental block. Howard thought another writer could have affected his mind.

After the meal Will was not feeling well so the team drove him home. There Gideon broke down his mental defences and found Will had witnessed oriental people chanting round and altar then disappeared. The chant included the phrase Lan Shee.

The following day the team went to the brotherhoods HQ when Chung was due to be performing at the show. The manservant was on duty. Gideon tried to persuade him to let him upstairs but he refused. Howard hacked into the wi-fi and found files about a cult of Lan-Shee, an entity who they were going to try to summon through a gateway during the magic show using a special apparatus. There was part of a journal from a Howard Amerson dated 1971. There was also information about an altar in the attic which could open a gateway.

Howard set off a fire alarm to clear the building before the team made their away upstairs. Jaroslaw opened several doors with his opening meridian. The doors had been locked with a meridian. One was Chungs room. The other was empty but had marks of recent use and had burn marks in the shape of a spread eagled man in the ceiling.

They found the hatch to the attic where they found the altar. Jaroslaw determined the alter opened a broken room to the reef if enough blood was spilt. Gideon drained blood from the team onto the altar, activating it. The alter descended into the floor and the team jumped on top. They found themselves on the alter in a clearing in some woods. There was a dark sky with a full moon above. 6 robed figures were standing round the altar chanting. Gideon pulled a pistol and shot one.

The figures drew back their hoods. Their faces were human but slowly turned into wolves. They attacked and the team fought back. Four were killed and a fifth fled while badly injured. Brian grappled the sixth and pinned it until it surrendered. He knew Chung but had not heard of Jacobson. He said Lan Shee would travel to our realm very soon where he would feast on humans. Brian sliced him open and threw him on the altar to activate the broken room. Jaroslaw reduced the friction and the team returned to the altar in the attic.

They climbed out the window and fled to their car. A policeman challenged the team because they were covered in blood but the team succeeded in convincing him it was just from a stage trick. The team then went to the show where Gideon killed Chung in his changing room with a venom pistol. They then distracted Chungs assistants and stole a piece of the machine (which looked like an arch) which was going to be used to summon Lan Shee. [Not a very satisfactory conclusion. The team claimed Jacobson had been sacrificed to activate the alter but had no real proof. They could have questioned Chung but chose to kill him.]