Blue Sargent is the only member of her family not gifted with clairvoyance—the ability to see the future. Instead, she has a boosting effect that strengthens other supernatural abilities and magic. Since she was six years old, Blue has been told that her true love would die as a result of her kissing him. Over the years, Blue has wondered about the prophecy, but now that she’s 16, she thinks it’s fake, something she questions when her Aunt Neeve visits and tells her, “This is the year you’ll fall in love” (10).

On St. Mark’s Eve, Blue and Neeve sit in the local graveyard waiting for the spirits of those who will die in the next year to arrive. As they wait, Blue explains her boosting ability. Neeve tries to reassure her that boosting is valuable and that Blue shouldn’t feel ashamed of not being clairvoyant. Blue shrugs this off because “she wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own” (15). Neeve asks if Blue attends the nearby Aglionby Academy, and Blue explains it’s a school for rich boys that she avoids because the boys who go there are jerks.