REGARDING NONA—THE CITY HAS A BAD DAY—FIVE DAYS UNTIL THE TOMB OPENS.

Nona is quite pleased with her life as it is. She’s surrounded by Pyrrha, Camilla, and Palamedes, who see to her needs and schooling and general well-being, while they live together on the thirtieth floor of a building in a miserable city. Nona would describe her own well-being as fine, maybe, except for the fact she’s apparently not just herself…A repeated No was the first word she said after they saved her and she woke up in someone else’s body six months ago. So Nona is who she is. For now.

But…perhaps things are not so good as Nona wants them to be. Her city is crumbling under threat of zombies. There’s a blue sphere above the landscape, ready to descend and make everything fall apart still more. The Blood of Eden soldiers are waiting for the Emperor Undying to arrive, and their leaders think Nona is the key to it all: a weapon, the weapon, who can rescue everyone else from the specter of the Nine Houses.

Nona wants to celebrate her six-month birthday on the beach, but the chances for celebration of anything are increasingly slim. Especially since the dreams of the woman with the skull painted on her face won’t stop…