A spin-off from the Hex Hall series
(which you don’t need to have read) featuring Isolde Brannick.
It has been a
year since Finley Brannick went missing. Finley and her younger sister Isolde
were on a fairly routine mission in New Orleans to deal with a coven of Dark
Witches. At the last minute, Finley lets Izzy stay in the car to read her book.
When she didn’t return promptly, Izzy went in search of her sister. The house
was empty and her sister’s weapon belt lay discarded on the floor. She and her
mother searched for six months before giving up.
Now on her
first solo mission, Izzy runs into a mind reading vampire who distracts her by
mentioning Finley. She is thrown for a loop when the vampire voices her concern
that the boy in the mirror had something to do with Finley’s disappearance.
Distracted, the vampire gets the upper hand and pins Izzy. He has bitten her
neck when her mother rushes in and dispatches the vampire. Back at home, her
mother, Aislinn, wants to curtail her solo missions for the time being. Izzy
lets her know that the vampire rattled her by reading her mind and mentioning
Finley. Both continue to be distraught over her disappearance.
In the
Brannick war room, a mirror hangs on the wall. Izzy goes there to visit Torin,
the boy in the mirror. He is really a warlock that has been trapped for
hundreds of years and the mirror has been in the possession of the Brannick
family. Torin is good for the occasional prophecy he acts as Izzy’s confident
in her otherwise lonely life. Recounting her incident with the vampire and
subsequent rescue by her mother, Torin tries to reassure her. Her mother has
already lost one daughter; she doesn’t want to lose another. The vampire’s
words about the boy in the mirror cross her mind. Once again, she asks him if
he knows anything about Finley’s disappearance. Torin gently tells her no. he
jokes that one day Izzy will be the one to free him from the mirror. She states
that will never happen. Torin warns her that she and her mother will begin a
long journey in the morning. He refuses to answer any more of her questions.
The next
morning, Izzy and Aislinn travel to Alabama to meet up with Maya. Maya, a hedge
(learned not natural) witch, tracks news stories that might involve the
supernatural for Aislinn. She shares a story about a high school teacher in Mississippi
found nearly dead after a blow to his head. He was found alone on a classroom
that was locked from the inside. Her mother believes it is a haunting and it is
their duty to keep the students of Mary Evans High School safe. Always shying
away from schools because of their irregular lifestyle, Izzy questions if she
will be going to high school instead of continue to be homeschooled. It will be
the best way to carry out reconnaissance work and might just be good for them
as well, her mother believes. They make plans to move to Ideal, Mississippi.
Her first day
at school is pretty normal. Everybody stares when she enters the classroom. Gym
was the one class Izzy felt comfortable with. Unfortunately during a dodge ball
game against a jerk, she unintentionally dislocates his shoulder with a ball. The
coach sends her to run laps as punishments. Circling the track, she notices a
boy staring at her. On her third lap, he is waiting for her on the track. He strikes
up a conversation and Izzy begins to wonder if he is flirting with her. He introduces
himself as Dex and he will save her a seat on the bus tomorrow. Before leaving,
he shakes her hand and Izzy immediately notices a subtle shock but Dex didn’t
seem to. She realizes that Dex is a Prodigium.
Does a ghost
haunt Mary Evans High School? Can Izzy fit in at high school and make friends? Will
she and her mother ever discover what happened to Finley? Did Torin have
something to do with Finley’s disappearance? What kind of Prodigium is Dex? What
happens when Izzy, closed off from others in the past, begins to open up to the
possibility of friendships and a relationship?
Visit Rachel Hawkins’ website.
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