On an icy peninsula in Norway, there is a school where select students from around the world are trained in specific disciplines and taught the secrets of the Victorian-era world.

The school's programs are:

Thirteen-year-old Sunday Gråe wants to follow in her late father's footsteps and study Animalia - the way of working with animals' unique abilities that is taught only at the prestigious and secretive Svalbard School. Sunday's dreams come true when she is admitted, but the school is more dangerous than she thought: the Animalia students are mysteriously going missing - and she could be next.

What's worse, Sunday still blames herself for her father's death years ago, and her inability to forgive herself prevents her from using her Animalia insight to find the culprit. Sunday dodges peril alongside her sprightly friend Ori as the Animalia students are plucked off, one by one. When Ori is taken, only Sunday remains. Desperate to save Ori and find the other missing students, Sunday carefully investigates the locations where the students have been snatched.

The dean of Animalia suspects someone within the school of foul play. But the clues Sunday finds in the wake of the missing students start to point, strangely, to her own twisted past and her father's death. Working with the new dean, Sunday must learn to forgive herself, use her new gifts of discernment, and boldly confront the suspects to stop the true culprit - before it's too late.