Gwen finds her friendship with Michael tested as, under Reine's influence, he falls more and more into the role of de facto leader of a gang of bad boys who are terrorizing the school with extortion and threats of violence. To make matters worse, Gwen discovers that her magical powers are defunct. Without magic, Gwen must rely on persuasion to help Michael stand up to Reine. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Gwen Reine has been experimenting with magic.

When money disappears first from the New Sage Shop and the from The Arc, circumstantial evidence points to Gwen as the culprit. Gwen must solve the mystery of what really happened to the money, while staving off the suspicions of an over-enthusiastic police detective.

When Gwen discovers that someone has worked a magical spell to prevent her from leaving the shop, she tries to figure out who is responsible through a series of flashbacks recalling her magical enemies: Reine, Morgana, Ms. Blatt. Meanwhile, Gadowain makes a nuisance of himself at The Arc when he decides to ingratiate himself to Michael's friends, hoping to persuade Michael to remove the iron bracelet and allow Gad to resume his job of protecting him.