The Secret History meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in #1 bestselling author Ava Reid's brand new, thrilling, dystopian YA novel. There is no application process for Valeran Academy, but it boasts the brightest – and precociously criminal – students in the nation. A disgraced politician from a powerful American dynasty. A coldly brilliant strategist who will sacrifice anything to win. A former pageant queen with a talent that could change the world. A prodigious female soldier with an enigmatic past – and a dangerous secret. With eerie war simulations, cutthroat competitions and foreboding new technology, Valeran trains its students to be elite assets in a Cold War that has dragged on for nearly a century. But as a sinister conspiracy takes shape and these four are drawn together for a mysterious mission, their loyalties are tested, their convictions shaken and they all begin to wonder: are they ushering in a new era of freedom, or tyranny?