Emily Nevin Cann Bell is a recent addition to Trundlewood Academy for Unwanted, Wayward, and Unusual Girls, fresh from a workhouse in E: lhal's capital city, Cansem. Life at the Academy is pretty good. Sure, Sylvie seems determined to burn the school down; Ayn stalks the halls spouting her philosophy of radical self-reliance; and shy, refined Miles puts Emily's stomach on spin cycle. And yes, there are occasional disruptions in the weather-like a horseradish storm-oddly timed to coincide with her dreams and journal entries. But for an orphan with three last names and no idea which one is...

Rhea Artuso never expected to make it to 18. She never bothered to fall in love or apply for college or learn a skilled trade because she didn't think she'd live long enough for her efforts to matter. But now she's graduated from high school and her parents seem to think that the best method of dealing with their ambitionless firstborn is to ship her to Rome to spend the summer with relatives. Rhea's last memory of Rome is of being buried alive by an angry mob at the age of 17. In the angry mob's defense, she did violate her oath of chastity and there's not much point being a vestal virgin if...