New York, summer of 1929 The documents that hermeticist Nia Himlan and astronomer Aden Fenice tried to save from the fire at the University of Hermetics have been stolen. Nia suspects the divinators, and since they maintain that Aden will eventually help them, he takes advantage of their good will and investigate matters under the pretense of learning to wield his newly discovered powers. Meanwhile, Nia is under pressure from her Mafia connections, the board of the University of Hermetics, and even Aden as he begins to question Nia’s methods and motives for working on the Elixir of Life. Will Aden and Nia manage to reconcile their differences as they navigate their personal ambitions, university politics, and the criminal underworld? Will New York City survive or succumb to the disaster foretold by the divinators? The Transformation is the third and final volume in the alchemy punk series Academia, a story of science, prejudice, and magic.