Immortal Consequences

At Blackwood Academy, a school in purgatory for dead souls, Wren Loughty is woken in her room by her rival, Augustine Hughes. It is the night before the Decennial opening ceremony, when a student will be chosen to undertake trials in the Decennial Festival. If successful, they will choose to either become one of the elite “Ascended” or pass over to the Other Side permanently. August tells Wren a new student is arriving off-schedule and invites her to witness the rare event. Wren agrees to go and arms herself with a hidden silver dagger. Another student, Maya Romero, looks into Wren’s room and warns them that Ascended are patrolling.

Wren and August leave the room, their conversation needling each other in a way that displays their rivalry and apparent antipathy. Wren challenges August on how he learned of the arrival, and he claims he used forbidden “psyche magic” on a housemaster. When he stops her from leaving without shoes, their hands brush, and the contact unsettles Wren.

In the library, Emilio Córdova holds his hand over a candle flame, but his skin heals immediately, a reminder that students at Blackwood cannot feel pain.