Deep in the heart of greenest Pennsylvania lies the town of Blackgale. It is a place of great wealth, rustic charm and natural beauty, as well as diligent, hardworking citizens. Bright, inventive girls are especially prized, and are molded into brilliant young women at the world-renowned Blackgale School for Girls. Cordelia Paredes is not, decidedly, the ideal Blackgale citizen. She is a fifteen-year-old delinquent who is on the verge of dropping out of the Blackgale School for Girls, and harbors dreams of fleeing to somewhere that's less of a perfectionist headache. But then, one day, her best friend Persie just ... vanishes. Poof. Gone. No warning whatsoever. And if that isn't bad enough, all of Blackgale's residents - from teachers, to local officials, to Persie's own parents - are oddly unconcerned. Consequently, Cordelia must take it upon herself to find Persie, digging not only into Blackgale's mysteries, but into the personal stories of the little town's most mysterious residents. As more secrets are uncovered, formerly affable friends and neighbors start to turn hostile, and, in some cases, even murderous. Will Cordelia be able to discover what happened to Persie, or will her efforts lead to nothing more than a premature demise?