Lucinda “Luce” Price arrives late for her first day at her new reform school, Sword & Cross. She previously attended a normal high school, but after a mysterious accident that resulted in the fiery death of a boy whom Luce was seeing, Luce has had to jump through hurdles to get her life back together. She considers herself lucky to be off the antipsychotic medications that professionals have pushed on her for years. The antipsychotics were supposed to help Luce with the shadows that she hallucinates, but nothing ever made the shadows go away.

Luce joins a small orientation group with several other new students. The gruff attendant explains how things work, like their strict bedtime curfew and the cameras that cover the entire campus. Luce is forced to surrender her cell phone. She’ll get one call a week on Wednesday nights.

Luce meets her fellow newcomers. There’s Gabbe, whose pink clothes, blonde hair, and manicure throw Luce’s judgment off; Todd, a freckled young man who seems shy; and Cameron “Cam” Briel, a handsome boy with dark hair who holds Luce’s gaze long enough to make her blush. Cam wants to show Luce around, but the attendant, Randy, reminds Cam that he’s a new student again and does not have those privileges.

Randy has another student, Arriane, show Luce around. Luce finds her energetic and hard to read, but she takes to Luce quickly. Arriane knows Cam and seems to have negative feelings toward him.

The campus is dull and needs infrastructural updates. Arriane asks why Luce is in reform school. Luce still doesn’t know what happened on the night of the fire—just that she had seen the swirling shadows that evening and then Trevor was burning to death. Luce knows that she didn’t do that to him, but she feels guilty, and the skepticism she’s been treated with by the justice system, Trevor’s family, and her own parents eats at her. She worries that she might be guilty. She doesn’t reveal any of this to Arriane.

Arriane likes Luce’s short hair and asks Luce to cut her hair short too. Luce agrees and does well; Arriane is thrilled with the result. Arriane warns Luce about the students who wear wristband tracking devices because they are under stricter watch. Luce notices that Arriane is wearing a wristband. Arriane then shows Luce several buildings and tells the history of the school, which is a former Civil War military academy. There’s a cemetery on campus.

Luce spots a breathtakingly handsome student. For a moment, she pictures herself in his arms, but she realizes that’s an irrational fantasy to have upon first seeing someone. Arriane explains that his name is Daniel, and she also points out his friend Roland. Roland can get ahold of things that are banned at the school, but Daniel is more of a mystery.

Daniel’s eyes meet Luce’s. Luce recognizes him from somewhere, and she thinks she sees a hint of recognition on his face before he flips her off and turns away. Luce wonders why he was so rude.

In Luce’s first class, Cam flirts with her and gives her a guitar pick with his room number. Arriane and Cam seem to be in a power struggle over Luce that Luce doesn’t understand. Luce looks for Daniel, but he is not in her class. She acknowledges that it’s too early for her to be getting wrapped up with boys.

Luce’s morning classes are terribly long and boring. As Luce and Arriane head to the cafeteria, Cam gently bumps into Luce, only to flash her a flirtatious smile as he passes. Arriane points out Daniel across the room and makes jokes. Arriane’s casual attitude toward Luce’s sudden thing for Daniel makes Luce feel more relaxed. She is still confused about the mysterious pull that she felt toward him this morning.

Luce stumbles and accidentally takes out another girl’s lunch tray. The girl, Molly, aggressively stomps on Luce’s foot with her heel. Arriane then gives Molly a black eye. Arriane’s wristband begins shocking her, sending her to the ground. Randy breaks up the fight and takes Arriane away. Randy assigns detention to all three girls for the next morning at the cemetery. Molly smears the rest of her meatloaf on Luce. As Luce flees, she notices that Daniel saw the whole thing. He shakes his head at her.

Luce cleans herself up in the restroom alone until a stocky girl wearing multiple sweaters enters. The girl is Pennyweather “Penn” Van Sycle-Lockwood. Her father worked for the school before he died, so Penn attended the school even though she isn’t a troublemaker. When her father passed, he was buried in the school cemetery, so Penn stayed at Sword & Cross because he’s all she had. She has responsibilities, connections, and influence that normal students don’t have. Penn saw what happened in the cafeteria and went to fetch shampoo for Luce. Penn assures Luce that not everyone at Sword & Cross is hostile. Penn helps clean up Luce’s hair and gives her one of her extra sweaters. Penn knows a lot about the other students on campus, including Luce. She is a valuable friend to have around.

Luce finds her room in the dormitory. It’s dingy and small, but it could be worse. She’s thankful for the window and the privacy. She wants to unpack and make the place feel familiar, but she is exhausted and homesick. Luce lies in bed and thinks about her life before the fire. She thinks about what happened with Trevor.

Someone leaves a note on Luce’s door with an arrow pointing down the hall. She follows the note to Arriane’s room, where Arriane has left another note informing Luce that she’s making up a biology test that she missed while at the nurse. The note also addresses Roland, telling him to stop reading her personal business.

Behind Luce, the door across the hall opens, and Roland peeks out. He asks what Luce is up to and tells her that Arriane isn’t there. Luce lies and says that she was headed to the library. Roland recommends that she look at the special collections section. Luce isn’t sure what to think of Daniel’s friend showing her kindness after Daniel flipped her off that morning. She heads to the library, which is attached to the dorms.

Luce enjoys being in the library. She meets the librarian, Miss Sophia, who points her toward the special collections section. As Luce walks, she notices shadows appearing above her head. She hopes that they will not stay long; she’s terrified of them. Her thoughts of the shadows are interrupted when she spots Daniel standing near the window, sketching. Luce has the strangest feeling that he could be sketching her. She recalls flashes of her dream the previous night, in which a young man was sketching her.

Daniel looks up from his work and seems to be able to see the shadow above Luce, but he doesn’t say anything. Luce glances at Daniel’s paper and sees that he’s sketching a landscape. She isn’t sure why she thought otherwise. Daniel indicates that he wants to be alone. He packs his things and leaves, brushing his shoulder against Luce’s as he passes. His touch feels electric. The shadows follow Daniel for a moment before leaving through the window.

In the morning, Luce feels homesick. She rushes to detention at the cemetery, but she’s the only one there. It’s 15 minutes past six o’clock. The cemetery is bowl shaped and appears to have been built over a sinkhole, with the centermost part holding a maze of mausoleums and statues.

Penn finds Luce and reminds her that she’s late for detention. Penn isn’t part of the detention crew; she’s just out for a morning walk. She points Luce toward the center of the cemetery. Luce rushes to meet the rest of the detention group, who are not happy that she’s held them up. Among them are Arriane, Molly, Roland, Cam, and Daniel. Daniel glares at Luce.

Cam tries to pair up with Luce for their responsibilities, but Arriane claims dibs on Luce and chases Cam away. Luce and Arriane scrub down one of the large angel statues. Arriane asks Luce again about what landed her in Sword & Cross. Luce tells about how she and Trevor were flirting one moment, and the next, he was on fire. Luce cannot remember the details, and now everyone believes that she has a mental illness. Arriane seems entertained by the idea of a pyromaniac friend. She runs off.

Luce watches Daniel work, and a rogue thought that he’s “always been such a hard worker” crosses her mind (94). Luce wonders where the thought came from, as she’s only just met Daniel. She feels that Daniel is bringing out strange, unfamiliar things in her.

Molly approaches, warns Luce to stay away from Daniel, and leaves. Then, Daniel approaches. Luce can’t look away or pretend that she wasn’t staring at him. He asks Luce what Molly said to her. Luce is nervous and cracks her knuckles, and Daniel says that he hates when she does that; Luce wonders if he misspoke. Luce relays Molly’s message. Daniel asks if Luce plans to follow Molly’s advice, but then she notices a shadow floating above them and begins to feel anxious. Daniel asks again if Luce is going to stay away from him, taking steps toward her. Luce squeaks out that she will, but Daniel replies that he didn’t hear her. A shadow passes quickly between them.

Above them, the statue breaks and falls toward them. Daniel grabs Luce and protects her from the statue, sheltering her from the crash. Daniel asks if Luce saw anything. Before she can respond, the rest of the detention group descends upon the collapsed statue. Cam pulls Luce from under the statue and brushes her off. Daniel leaves the scene, and Molly reminds Luce of her advice.