Penny Pariculus is freckly, lonely, bullied, and miserable. However, she is pretty good at drawing, and when one of her drawings accidentally gains her admission into the Orchidus Academy for Immensely Intelligent Orphans, she believes she has left her troubled world behind. She couldn't be more wrong... Penny is suddenly surrounded by geniuses, hybrid animals, magic carpets, a power-hungry principal, and a bedroom in the middle of the rainforest. She even meets some people as awkward as herself. But her wonder is short-lived. A sinister plot by someone within the Academy forces Penny to try...