The fakir woman Megalania Coralli could hypnotize an entire hall of spectators, make lions attack the trainer, and do plenty more besides… No wonder the wives of Politburo members secretly went to see her. But the Great Megalania’s main desire was to find a successor to whom she would have to pass her most treasured knowledge. That’s why she gathered talented children-students around herself—to be able to recognize a gift akin to her own. And each of them tried to prove—to her, the Great One, and to themselves—that they were the unique one… Even many years later, already as adults, this rivalry never stopped. In a dacha settlement in the Moscow region, successful businesswoman Regina Grishina is found murdered. The way the crime was carried out—and staged—immediately suggested to criminal reporter Ekaterina Petrovskaia and Colonel Hector Borshov that the case was both mysterious and far from simple. And the mysterious, ominous objects found in the victim’s house only confirmed their suspicions…