Megan wakes from a dream to find that she is back in Merridiah and now attending the afterlife school as a living exchange student. However, she soon learns that there are certain rules here that must never be broken. Before the dream that locks her into Merridiah, Megan first confides in her friend, Dagny. Megan spins a tale of strange rabbit “beebo” fairies that spirit her through the air and hyperpans who run with the eternal suicide victim, Adrien Crandall, but Dagny only wants to tell her Megan about the mysterious man she’s fallen for — a man who runs a vanishing flower shop. Meanwhile, in the afterlife of Merridiah, Adrien, the Angel of Childhood’s End, takes tea with his eternal roommate, the cross-dressing muse, Thomas. Adrien speaks of his feelings for Megan and Thom reminds him of the fleeting nature of mortals, especially mortals who may already be sentenced to expulsion. Thus enters Damien, the Angel of Death Unbalanced, who is intent on ending Megan’s time as ShutterBox before she has even begun.