Plot
Luce is sent to 'Sword and Cross', a reform school for young adults, after she is blamed for the death of Trevor, a boy that Luce once had a small crush on. It is revealed that, although Luce cannot remember what happened exactly, she remembers kissing Trevor at her previous school's summer camp, Dover. After the kiss, Trevor is said to have spontaneously combusted, which leaves her with burned hair. Luce believes herself to be innocent, which angers her disbelieving peers.
Upon arriving at her new school, Luce encounters a fearsome Randy and shy boy Todd, along with Gabbe, a pretty blonde-haired girl; and Cameron, an attractive looking boy whose second time being sent to Sword and Cross. Cam offers to take Luce to her dorm room, but is abruptly interrupted by Arriane Alter, a self-described psychopath with long black hair. Arriane takes Luce under her wing, which agitates Cam.
Arriane takes Luce to the outside grounds of the school, and demands that Luce cut her hair in the same style as her own. While working on Arriane's hair, Luce notices a scar on her friend's neck, and a shock band on her wrist. She tells Luce that she will not ask questions of her past, as long as Luce makes the same promise, which she does.
After Arriane shows Luce around the school, they both head off to their first lesson of the day. As both are waiting outside the classroom, Luce notices a tall, handsome boy across the grounds, and suddenly becomes nervous and panicky, which she doesn't understand. She also feels as if she knows him from somewhere, but cannot think of where. Arriane says his name is Daniel Grigori, and teases her for staring, embarrassing Luce. Standing next to Daniel is Roland Sparks, a boy with dreadlocks. Daniel notices Luce staring at him, and begins to smile back at her before raising his middle finger at her in an aggressive gesture. Luce is shocked and confused at this, but sees him watch her as she leaves for her class.
Cam meets Luce again in the classroom, and makes further attempts to flirt with Luce. She continues to stress herself out over her encounter with Daniel, which distracts her throughout much of the lesson. After class is over, Luce and Arriane go to the cafeteria for lunch. Luce explains that she is a vegetarian, simply because she does not like the taste of meat. She also notices Daniel in the cafeteria. Losing her nerve, Luce falls backwards, tumbling into Molly Zane, an angry-looking, heavily pierced girl. This angers Molly, and she digs the high-heel of her shoe into Luce's foot before provoking Arriane into a fight. Arriane's shock band on her wrist goes off, causing her to convulse violently, scaring Luce. Randy breaks up the fight, and gives Luce, Arriane and Molly a detention in the school cemetery for the following day. When Randy and Arriane leave, Molly dumps her tray of meatloaf over Luce, and is taunted, all whilst Daniel stares and shakes his head at the whole scene. Luce runs to the bathroom, crying.
There, she meets Penn, the daughter of the school's deceased groundskeeper who explains that she chooses to stay at the school because she has nowhere else to go. Penn befriends Luce, and helps clean the meatloaf out of Luce's hair. The two instantly bond, and it is revealed that Penn can access anybody's personal records held by the school, telling Luce that she is a "...very powerful friend to have."
That evening, Luce visits the library, where she meets Miss Sophia, a grey-haired librarian. As Luce wanders through the maze-like library, she begins to see the return of "The Shadows," paranormal, ink-like smudges that Luce has been seeing since childhood. She then sees Daniel sitting by a window with a sketchbook and approaches him. Daniel is rude to her again, and they accidentally touch, causing a static shock. Both look at each other before Daniel quickly leaves.
The next day, Luce is late for her detention at the cemetery, annoying the rest of the group which consists of Arriane, Molly, Roland, and—much to Luce's surprise—Daniel. The group members are instructed to pair off and clean the cemetery statues. Luce and Arriane start to clean a statue of an "avenging angel," but Arriane runs off after Luce reveals her secret. Molly, after catching Luce staring at Daniel, warns her to stay away from him. Daniel then approaches Luce after "hearing" his name and asks Luce what Molly said. Then the statue breaks and starts falling towards them. Daniel saves Luce from the falling statue, and makes a swift exit.
Later, Luce is invited to Cam's party, which he does loudly in front of Daniel, signalling some sort of rivalry between the two. Before the party, the students of Sword and Cross are encouraged to watch a film as part of a social practice. Here, Luce encounters another Shadow, which she manages to "pinch" out of her pocket. This scares and also excites Luce, as she has never physically interacted with the Shadows before.
At the party, Cam greets Luce warmly. Luce begins to develops a crush on Cam, but this is hindered by her constant feeling of an unusual connection with Daniel. Later, Luce overhears Daniel and Gabbe suggestively whispering to each other outside, leading Luce to believe that they are in a relationship and making her jealous.
The next day, Luce is forced to attend a fitness exam in the gymnasium, which is actually situated in an old church on the school grounds. After Luce loses a swimming race, she sees Daniel in one of the gym rooms, but is aggressively pushed by one of the Shadows before she can approach him. This terrifies Luce, but she eventually goes to Daniel. They awkwardly converse, and Luce tells Daniel that she swears that she knows him from somewhere; Daniel tells her coldly that she does not.
Afterwards, Luce and Cam have a picnic in the cemetery. Cam is about to kiss Luce as Gabbe interrupts, telling Luce she's late for a class. This fuels Luce's hatred towards Gabbe. In the library, Luce is given an assignment to trace her family tree, but searches for Daniel's instead of her own. Penn later tells Luce that she has noticed her doing this, and offers Luce a look at his personal records. She accepts, and discovers that Daniel was sent to Sword and Cross for jaywalking and petty vandalism.
On Luce's first Saturday at Sword and Cross, she is hit in the head by a soccer ball. Daniel seems concerned, and takes Luce to cool down outside. Luce confronts Daniel about Gabbe, to which he confirms that he is not in a relationship with Gabbe. This simultaneously relieves and embarrasses Luce for being so upfront about the situation.
Daniel takes Luce to a hidden-away lake area, where they both swim together before resting on a nearby rock. Here, Daniel warns Luce that he cannot get involved with her romantically as he has been previously "burned" by somebody else. He leaves Luce at the rock, and Luce is confused when she thinks she sees a pair of faint wings on Daniel's back as he runs off.
Back in the library, Luce bonds with Miss Sophia. During one of her classes on ancient angelic myths, Molly taunts Luce, and makes a connection between the name "Lucifer" and "Luce", angering Luce. At the end of the lesson, Daniel asks Luce if she found the lesson interesting, as the stories have always been in his family. Luce tells Daniel that she is surprised he had a family, which Daniel is angered by, scolding her of presuming things about him. On Daniel's private records, it had claimed that Daniel had spent most of his life in an orphanage.
Penn later discovers a book in the library called The Watchers written "D. Grigori". Cam also gives Luce a necklace, which makes her question herself further as to whom she is drawn to more.
In the library, a fire breaks out after Luce witnesses more Shadows. With her in library is Todd, who flees with Luce. Unable to make it out of the smoke, Luce experiences an apparent out-of-body experience, where she can feel herself literally flying out of the smoke and into fresh air. Another Shadow attacks her and Todd, and Luce blacks out.
Luce wakes up in the hospital the next day, and is pampered by Gabbe, Penn, and Arriane. Gabbe then tells Luce that it was Daniel that carried her out of the fire, but Todd was killed after breaking his neck trying to escape. Luce spots Daniel waiting outside her room with a worried face, some peonies, and mouths, "I'm sorry," to her.
Two days later, a memorial service for Todd is held at Sword and Cross. Cam tries again to make advances towards Luce, and comforts her over Todd's death, which she cannot help but feel partially responsible for. Daniel interrupts Cam and Luce, and takes her back to the lake area and the rock. Daniel expresses his feelings of anger towards Cam, and tells Luce that she deserves better than him. Back on the rock, Luce talks to Daniel about the Shadows she sees, which he is shocked by. A near-kiss between Luce and Daniel leaves Luce on her own at the rock again, as Daniel flees out of sight, leaving a purple haze behind him. This alarms Luce, but she dismisses it as something explainable.
Cam takes Luce on a date outside of the school grounds. However, when they enter the bar, they are set upon by drunken men. Cam easily defeats them, showing strength that is inhuman. Shortly after this, Daniel talks to Luce, explaining what is happening at the school, with the bizarre characters and almost supernatural occurrences. The majority of the people at the reform school are fallen angels; Gabbe (a beautiful girl who turns out to be the Angel Gabriel), Arriane and Annabelle (who initially passes herself off as Arriane's sister) are all on the side of God; whilst Cam, Roland (a black angel who is known for getting contraband) and Molly (a heavily pierced gothic girl) are under Satan's rule. Daniel has yet to choose a side. It is revealed that Daniel is cursed to love Luce. When he gets too close to her emotionally, she spontaneously combusts, dying before her eighteenth birthday. However, in this lifetime she has remained alive, despite him revealing this and despite a kiss that they share. It soon comes to light that Luce was not baptised in this lifetime, so if she dies, she will not be reincarnated.
A battle between the angels commences, and the school librarian, Miss Sophia, leads Luce and Penn (the only mortals) away from the battle. Once they are safe indoors, Miss Sophia reveals herself to be one of the 24 Elders of Zhsmaelim, a radical heavenly sect that is interested in finally tipping the balance between good and evil (by making Daniel choose a side). She hopes that with Luce dead and gone for good, Daniel would be forced to choose a side. She kills Penn with a dagger and attempts to do the same to Luce, but she is stopped in time by Daniel, Arriane and Gabbe. The battle outside is over, with no victor. Daniel informs Luce that she must be taken somewhere safe and entrusts her to Mr. Cole, one of the teachers at the school who knows about the fallen angels. Luce is transported away by an airplane after sharing one final kiss with Daniel, who promises that he will see her soon.
