Ten-year-old cousins Sophie and Wil face a long and endless summer, until they find out MiddleGate's honeybees are falling sick. Even the Secretariat on the Status of Magical Creatures seems unable to solve the mystery. Fearing for Aunt Rue's position at the Secretariat, Wil and Sophie decide to find out who - or what - is attacking the insects after the symbol of a golden bee suddenly appears on Wil's black medallion. The children are cast into the secret world of the magical honeybees of MiddleGate; a world where Magykalis honey transforms those who consume it and portends a future when the Serpent's Chain -- a secret magical society -- returns to power.