For fans of Nevermoor and Howl's Moving Castle comes an epic middle grade fantasy about a girl with the ability to unlock anything-including the empire's darkest secrets.

Melanie Gate is a foundling with a peculiar talent for opening the unopenable-any lock releases at the touch of her hand. One night, her orphanage is visited by Traveler, a lifeless gearling automaton there on behalf of his magical mistress, who needs an apprentice pronto. When Melanie is selected because of her gift, her life changes in a flash, and in more ways than she knows-because Traveler is not at all what he seems.

So begins an epic, overland adventure sparkling with magic, humor, secret identities, stinky cats, fierce orphan girls, impostor boys, and a foundling and gearling hotly pursued by the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the land. Along the way, Melanie never expects to uncover the source of her own true powers-or learn that she may be the key to saving the empire.

"Zack Loran Clark has spun a new classic. Perfect next read for fans of classics by Ursula LeGuin and Diana Wynne Jones." -Eliot Schrefer, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of The Lost Rain Forest series

Story Locale: magical Grand Aeder Empire