James Maldover, founder of Maldover Academy in 1945, wanted to create a university designed to let gifted students from all over the world come together to hone their talents. Every year, the school picks five students to receive a full scholarship from their list of applicants. Cordelia Proctor is one of them. Surrounded by a dark forest that the school encourages students not to go into, Maldover Academy is full of winding hallways and decrepit rooms that hide secret passages underneath the school. Cordelia, or Cora, comes into her first year expecting to make new friends and focus on her studies while trying to get out of her older brother's shadow, but they are quickly disrupted when one of the senior students is found right outside the forest line with deep scratches all over their body. With every day passing, eyes seem to fall only on Cora. Why? Because the senior student was her brother.