"Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College--Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. It's not just that it's grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it's designed to stretch the riders' capacity for pain beyond endurance....

Attending the annual Greek mythology gala at Oracle College, Nancy, Bess, and George race to assist when a student falls from a balcony in the middle of her speech, an accident the sleuthing trio links to collegiate sabotage.