The Scholar, the Sphinx and the Shades of NYX (Scholar and the Sphinx, Book 1)

Cervera, Spain, 1852. David Sandoval is a sixteen-year-old genius on many different subjects, yet he is more content studying than becoming close with family or friends. He accepts an apprenticeship offer from a French architect, and while on his travels to Paris, a foolhardy decision on his part gets him abducted by a gypsy caravan owned by a living Grecian sphinx. The sphinx, seemingly intrigued by the fearless young man, takes him through the Curtain, the gateway between our world and the worlds of the unseen, where many creatures of myth and legend reside. When David attempts to escape back through the Curtain to the human world, he learns a dark secret: a Shade, an extension of the shadowy Night Goddess Nyx, is slowly draining the sphinx of her most precious talents. Can one normal boy truly undo the inflictions of a goddess, and rescue both the seen and unseen worlds from her dark intentions?