Emma Catherwood

For thirteen-year-old Max, survival is a finely tuned machine — built on quick

hands, sharper wits, and a hidden life aboard a speeding steam train. Home is a

secret workshop. Trust is a luxury he can't afford.

Until the gears slip.

When a mysterious girl named Lid appears — wielding impossible magic and an

even more impossible claim that Max's long-dead father is alive — everything Max

knows begins to unravel.

Dragged into the Forgotten Lands, a world of wild magic, whispering mechanisms,

and living creations powered by something deeper than clockwork, Max discovers

he is no ordinary thief. Something ancient moves within him. Something powerful.

And someone is hunting him.

Lord Tomlin — the iron-fisted ruler of this fractured world — will stop at nothing

to claim what runs through Max's veins. To save his father, Max must step beyond

survival and into something far more dangerous: purpose.

With only his stubborn instincts, a prickly guide he doesn't trust, and a trail of

deadly riddles, Max must unlock a truth buried deeper than any machine —

⚙️ In a world where names hold power…

⚙️ where magic hums beneath every surface…

⚙️ and where even the smallest creations can change everything…

The greatest risk isn't failure. It's discovering who he really is.