"Ren Monroe is one of the best wizards in her generation, but top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays: Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. A fight breaks out, and in the chaos the portal spell misfunctions. Six students are set down in the middle of nowhere-- and one of them is dead on arrival. No magic could prepare them for the tangled secrets members of the group are harboring-- or for what's following them in the dark woods." -- Adapted from jacket.