"Under our tutelage here at the Academy, you will receive a thorough instruction in occult history and practice, and learn to traffic with certain clandestine powers. You will face many ordeals, but you will emerge stranger than you have ever been. I'll change your life forever...if you'll let me." Trapped in a dead-end town and a dead-end life, Amy Nettle dreams of escaping her abusive father and starting over, somewhere far away. The arrival of a black envelope heralds just that, in a way she never could have imagined. Whisked away to the Saunders Academy, a Gothic manse in the heart of an eternal storm-tossed ocean, Amy is one of dozens of teenagers plucked from dozens of parallel Earths and selected for an education in witchcraft. It seems too good to be true...except. Except no one will tell them why they were chosen, or what happens after graduation. Or why the dormitories on the fourth floor are completely empty. There are tentacled leviathans and carnivorous mermaids in the water, a saboteur stalking the halls, and danger lurks around every corner. Worst of all, failure means the Arch of a one-way trip back to where you came from, without your memories or your magic. Falling in with a crew of misfits, Amy realizes they're all in the same boat: with nothing but ruin waiting back home, failure is not an option. Then there's Vail, an enigmatic tomboy who makes her heart flutter. For the first time in her life, Amy has something to lose. Amy and her new friends will have to untangle the dark secrets at the heart of the Saunders Academy and master its mysteries, because there are only two choices left: graduate, or die.

When Amy Nettle was whisked from her dead-end small town life to the Saunders Academy, a brooding Gothic fortress in the heart of an endless storm-tossed ocean, she was promised an education in witchcraft. She got more than she bargained for. Beyond the brutal lessons that pushed her to her mental and physical limits, there were leviathans and killer mermaids in the water, lethal magic in the air, and an invader determined to make sure none of the new students survived long enough to see their graduation day. Then there was Vail, a freckled tomboy with a knack for pyromancy and a lasso wrapped around Amy’s heart. Together with their fellow castaways, a band of misfits from a handful of parallel realities, they exposed the plot against the school and sent its architects on the run. The enemy is still out there, though, in the wilds of Firebreak Island, and the Academy is battening down the hatches and going on a manhunt. There’s danger in the woods, but even more inside the fortress walls. When warring rivals drive a wedge between Amy and Vail, their loyalty is put to the test. Worse, there’s no denying the one of the students is a traitor, trying to destroy the Academy from within. Their second year of occult education has just begun, and if the castaways can’t uncover the truth in time, there won’t be a third.