The Thorne Archives: File 01

Dying was easy. High school is a nightmare.

For two hundred years, Elara Thorne was the perfect Victorian aristocrat: cold, dead, and impeccably dressed. But after a resurrection ritual goes sideways, she wakes up with a beating heart, a ravenous appetite, and the one thing she feared most: mortality.

Now, Elara is stuck in the body of a modern sixteen-year-old. She has no magic, no money, and absolutely no idea how to operate a smartphone. But she doesn't have time to mourn her undead status.

The Ledger of Souls —the cursed grimoire that anchors her family’s debt to the underworld—has been stolen. The trail leads to Benjamin Harrison High School, a building designed by her father to be a spiritual battery for the damned. To retrieve the book, Elara must navigate a treacherous labyrinth of social hierarchies, gym class dodgeball, and cafeteria mystery meat. But she isn't the only one hunting. Principal Henderson is watching her with eyes that look a little too much like burning coals. He’s not just an administrator; he’s a Barghest—a hell-hound in a tweed blazer—and he’s waiting to collect the debt in blood. With the help of a burnout Siren, a paranoid hacker, and a boy who turns into a Golden Retriever, Elara must track down the thief and balance the books before the upcoming Celestial Ball. Because if the beat drops before the debt is paid, Elara Thorne won't just be grounded. She’ll be erased.