- Zoey is listening to her BFF, Kayla, chat away by their lockers when Zoey sees a dead guy.
- Kayla's trying to talk Zoey into giving her sorta-ex-boyfriend (Heath) a chance when the undead vampyre Tracker points at Zoey and says she has been called to the House of Night.
- Zoey's head explodes in pain and she comes close to passing out. On top of already having a killer cold, this majorly stinks.
- When Zoey's vision clears, she sees Kayla standing over her, freaking out about how Zoey has been Marked. Kayla keeps her distance, treating Zoey as though she's already become a monster, which annoys Zoey since they've been friends, like, forever.
- Kayla scrams, and Zoey reflects on her fate: Now that she's been Marked, she'll either turn into a vampyre or her body will reject the Change and she'll die. Fun times.
- The afterschool crowd fills the student parking lot, and since it includes Heath, Zoey goes back inside their high school to hide.
- Zoey remembers the last time a vampyre Tracker showed up at their school to give a kid the Mark: Everyone had stared at the kid, and no one had touched or comforted him. Is the same thing going to happen to Zoey?
- Zoey decides to hide in a bathroom for a while. She looks at the Mark, which is a dark blue outline of a crescent moon in the middle of her forehead. It makes her skin look pale, even though she has her grandma's Cherokee coloring and features, with hazel/brown eyes and dark hair.
- From this point on, Zoey's life will change forever. She mostly feels horrified, but there's a tiny part of her that surprisingly feels pleasure.