Veranix Calbert is the Thorn--the street vigilante who became a legend to the people of Maradaine, especially the gangs that run the neighborhood of Aventil. The Thorn continues to harass Willem Fenmere, the drug kingpin of the Dentonhill neighborhood. Veranix is still determined to stop Fenmere and the effitte drug trade, especially when he discovers that Fenmere is planning on using the Red Rabbits gang to bring the drug into Aventil.

But it's also Exam Week at the University of Maradaine, where Veranix is a magic student. With his academic career--and future as a mage--riding on his performance, Veranix needs to devote himself entirely to studying and participating in a fellow student's thesis experiment. There's no time to go after Fenmere or the Red Rabbits.

Then a series of strange pranks begins to plague the campus, using a form of magic that Veranix doesn't recognize. As the pranks grow increasingly deadly, it becomes clear that there's someone with a vendetta against the university, and the Thorn may be the only one capable of stopping them. Between the prankster, the war brewing between the Aventil gangs, and the flamboyant assassins Fenmere has hired to kill him, Veranix may end up dead before the week is out. Which just might be preferable to taking his exams....