Wundersmith

On Spring’s Eve, her twelfth birthday, Morrigan Crow’s patron, Jupiter North, takes her to a secret music hall in Nevermoor’s Bohemian District. They access it by walking up a “tricksy” alley wall that defies gravity. Inside, Jupiter explains that the performer, the Angel Israfel, is a celestial being whose song creates a dangerously addictive euphoria, so they must wear earmuffs. Backstage, Jupiter reveals to a reluctant Israfel that Morrigan is a Wundersmith, a being with the rare ability to manipulate the magical energy known as Wunder. He convinces Israfel to sign Morrigan’s “safeguard pact,” a document required for her entry into the Wundrous Society. Israfel also informs Jupiter that another celestial being, Cassiel, has disappeared. They return to their home, the Hotel Deucalion, for a large surprise party. That night, Morrigan is magically transported from her bed.

Morrigan awakens outside the gates of the Wundrous Society, or Wunsoc, with the eight other children who passed the previous year’s trials. Together, they will form Unit 919. The group includes Morrigan’s best friend, Hawthorne Swift, a dragonrider, and others with unique knacks: Thaddea Macleod, a fighter, Cadence Blackburn, a mesmerist, and Lambeth Amara, a short-range oracle. During their inauguration ceremony inside Proudfoot House, the scholars receive their black cloaks and golden W pins and recite an oath of lifelong loyalty. Afterward, the Wunsoc Elders reveal Morrigan’s Wundersmith nature to the patrons. The patrons are furious, but Elder Quinn declares Morrigan will remain in the unit. She imposes a strict rule of secrecy, stating that if anyone reveals Morrigan’s secret, all nine members of Unit 919 will be expelled for life.

The next morning, Morrigan discovers a golden W “imprint” on her fingerprint, a secret emblem for Wunsoc members, and a mysterious, knobless black door appears in her bedroom. Jupiter is called away on a mission, leaving a note forbidding Morrigan from traveling outside Wunsoc alone. Soon after, knocks on the new door lead her to Station 919, a private station for the Wunderground, the city's magical train system, connecting the homes of all unit members. They board Hometrain 919 and meet their conductor, Miss Marina Cheery. Miss Cheery explains Wunsoc’s two schools, Mundane and Arcane. Morrigan is surprised to be placed in the Mundane school, while Cadence and Lambeth are in the Arcane. At Wunsoc, they learn their tour guide, the famous illusionist Paximus Luck, has also disappeared. They are instead met by the cold Ms. Dulcinea Dearborn, the Scholar Mistress for the School of Mundane Arts. During a tour of the campus, Dearborn physically transforms into the terrifying Mrs. Murgatroyd, the Arcane Scholar Mistress.

Ms. Dearborn cancels all of Morrigan’s classes except one, “History of Heinous Wondrous Acts,” taught by a tortoisewun named Professor Hemingway Q. Onstald. His lessons, based on his own book, convince Morrigan that all past Wundersmiths were evil or incompetent. Distraught, Morrigan disobeys Jupiter’s order and flees Wunsoc, where she encounters a grotesque figure made of bones, a Bonesman, rising from a riverbank. Terrified, she returns to campus. Jupiter arranges for Morrigan to join a new class, “Decoding Nevermoor,” which the entire unit is eventually required to take. As Morrigan excels in the class, her unit begins to warm to her. Their new camaraderie is shattered when a blackmail note appears at Station 919, threatening to expose “the terrible truth about Unit 919.” The unit assumes the secret is Morrigan’s. When Thaddea tries to take the note to the Elders, it magically burns up in her hand.

Morrigan is attacked by a group of older students called the “Charlton Five.” When they throw stars at her head, her power manifests unconsciously, turning the weapons back on their owners. Soon after, the blackmailers’ demands begin. Thaddea is forced to lose a fight, Francis must bake a complex cake, and other members are made to commit acts of vandalism and theft. During a class field trip, Morrigan pushes through a Tricksy Lane called Devilish Court and discovers a hidden square where the Ghastly Market, a legendary black market, is being set up. She and Cadence later return and rescue a missing Magnificub that is being auctioned, though it escapes in the chaos. Weeks later, Heloise, one of the Charlton Five, publicly accuses Morrigan of being responsible for the disappearance of her boyfriend, Alfie Swann, and attacks Miss Cheery. Enraged, Morrigan breathes a fireball, an ability known as the Wretched Art of Inferno. Murgatroyd appears and extinguishes it with ice. Morrigan is then summoned before the Elders, who banish her from the Wunsoc campus.

While banished, Morrigan receives lessons from Professor Onstald at the Hotel Deucalion, where the staff subtly torments him in solidarity. Jupiter returns and, hearing about Onstald’s biased book, shows Morrigan that some Wundrous Acts, like Jemmity Park and Cascade Towers, were positive creations miscategorized as failures. Realizing Onstald has been lying, Morrigan confronts him. To escape, he reveals a hidden knack for slowing time, which another teacher, Henry Mildmay, identifies as the power of a Timekeeper. Jupiter vows to expose Onstald’s deception to the Elders.

On Hallowmas night, Inspector Rivers of the Wunsoc police, the Stealth, arrives at the Deucalion. Three more members have been taken, including Professor Onstald, and the Ghastly Market is active again. During a séance on the hotel rooftop, the guests, including Jupiter and Hawthorne, are revealed to be possessed by the evil Wundersmith Ezra Squall, who is acting from his exile through the Gossamer Line. Squall explains that Morrigan’s uncontrolled Wunder has created a “window” into Nevermoor, allowing him to manipulate events. He admits to orchestrating the disappearances through a “Society puppet” and warns Morrigan of a “shared enemy.” To force her to learn control, he makes the possessed guests stand on the rooftop ledge and offers to teach her Inferno in exchange for the market’s location. After she succeeds, Squall makes Hawthorne jump from the roof, forcing Morrigan to follow as the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow, Squall’s ghostly army, appears to catch them.

The Hunt delivers Morrigan and Hawthorne to the Museum of Stolen Moments, the market’s location. There, they are met by Henry Mildmay, who is revealed to be Squall’s traitorous puppet. Inside, they find an auction in progress, with Professor Onstald, Cadence, and Israfel among the lots. The final lot is Lambeth, who is revealed to be Princess Lamya, a royal from the enemy Wintersea Republic. To create a distraction, Morrigan unleashes the destructive scenes from the museum’s other exhibits, which are people preserved at their moment of death. As the museum implodes, Professor Onstald uses his Timekeeper power to freeze the chaos, sacrificing himself to save them. Morrigan uses Inferno to free Israfel, who rescues Lambeth. Outside, Israfel sings to grant peace to those dying inside as Jupiter arrives to save Morrigan from the song’s power.

The Stealth raids the museum, but Mildmay and most of the culprits escape. Jupiter realizes he must get Morrigan proper training to “close the window” Squall has been exploiting. He convinces Murgatroyd to accept Morrigan into the School of Arcane Arts. At a school assembly for Onstald, Morrigan receives the final blackmail note, which reveals the true threat was exposing Lambeth’s identity. To protect her friend, Morrigan publicly announces she is a Wundersmith. Elder Quinn then reveals the entire blackmail plot was Unit 919’s final Loyalty Trial, orchestrated by the Elders to test their bond. Having passed, Morrigan is officially welcomed by the Society, and the unit reconciles.