The book opens with mentions of blood, setting a macabre mood. The first paragraph introduces protagonist Galaxy Stern, or Alex for short, who is holed up in a secret room called the Hutch on the Yale campus in early spring. The Hutch is a space on the second floor of a commercial building that has been enchanted not to let smells from its various businesses penetrate the secret room.

Alex is physically hurt and hiding from something. To pass the time she reads whatever is at hand, including the pamphlet Suggested Requirements for Lethe Candidates. From her musings, it becomes clear that Lethe is a House—one of Yale’s secret societies dealing with magic. After reading the document and finding some marginalia, she recalls a traumatic memory—blood on the carpet and someone’s white bones sticking out.

After her flashback, Alex feels unwell and goes to the bathroom to take a zolpidem pill. While there, she looks at herself in the mirror: She is bruised and her tank top is “stained yellow with pus” (3). There is an infected bite wound in her side. The logical part of her mind is concerned with her worsening physical condition, but she feels too overwhelmed to do anything about it.