In the explosive first novel of an epic dark academia fantasy series, a young woman enters a gothic academy in the wilderness of upstate New York and uncovers the mysteries of a secret order of witches on the brink of war.Vic Wood knows her priorities: scrape by on her waitressing wages, take care of her younger brother Henry, and forget their mother ever existed. But Vic’s careful life crumbles when Henry reveals that their long-missing mother belonged to the Acheron Order—a secret society of witches tasked with keeping the dead at bay. What’s worse, Henry inherited their mother’s magical abilities while Vic did not, and Henry has been chosen as the Order's newest recruit.Determined to keep him safe, Vic accompanies him to the isolated woods in upstate New York that host to the Order’s academy, the sprawling and eerie Avalon Castle. As she joins the academy despite not having manifested powers, she risks not only the Order’s wrath, but also her brother’s. And then there is Xan, the he