The Nutcracker Trilogy

Unsure of how he escaped the prison known as Ivanov's Home for Orphaned Boys, Fritz finds himself the newest apprentice in the most powerful wizard consortium, The Order. After uncovering clues to a decade-old murder, Fritz becomes the unwitting target of someone who wants him dead. Now Fritz is in a race against time to unravel the clues and unmask the murderer before the next kill. If he has any hopes of surviving, Fritz must unify his fellow group of dysfunctional apprentices and confront the most deadly enemy he's ever known.

For the last five years, Fritz has lived a reclusive, solitary life trying to rescue his imprisoned friends from the Celestine. But, during his absence, the prison he grew up in, Ivanov's Home for Orphaned Boys, re-opened under new, mysterious owners. When he emerges from his self-imposed seclusion, he learns that children all over the world are beginning to disappear, Czar Nicholaus is planning a suicidal conflict with the other Kingdoms over gold, and the remaining Wizards in the Order are more focused on revenge against him than stopping the chaos.

Fritz wakes up as a prisoner in Delysia, a strange realm ruled by the powerful sorcerer, Malregent, and guarded by an army of Lignumorts. With no hope of escape from his prison walls, he resigns himself to a new life as a slave. When a fellow prisoner is killed for sport in a gladiator ring, Fritz vows revenge and volunteers to fight in the grizzly games. But after discovering that Malregent knows how to unlock the Celestine, Fritz is determined to learn the secret and get back home to save his friends.