The novel opens with a quotation from Homer’s Odyssey invoking the Greek muse: “Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. Find the beginning” (0). In the Prologue, seventh grader Caitlyn Breen explains in a recorded interview with her classmate Fiona Fawnstock that she will host and document a competition. When Caitlyn interviews another classmate, Diego Silva, he likens Paulie Fink, a former student who has disappeared, to a trickster “god” he’s learned about in class. In Caitlyn’s interview with Mr. Farabi, the school’s science and math teacher, he calls Paulie an “evil genius” and recalls various antics. In Caitlyn’s second interview with Fiona, the latter describes Paulie’s eyes as sparkly, contrasting them with Caitlyn’s eyes. Fiona thinks Caitlyn has never laughed “once in her entire stinkin’ life” (8).

Chapter 1 opens with a hypothetical framing of the tale as a TV show, which means the beginning can start in a “million places.” The narrator settles on beginning after they see the “Good Day Bell” at their new school in Mitchell, Vermont, which occupies an old mansion and has a bell near the front door (12). 

When Caitlyn enters the classroom, 10 students stare at her in silent disappointment, as if they were expecting someone else.