Mercedes Lackey

New York Times bestselling fantasy author Mercedes Lackey breaks into YA with a dangerous, utterly original futuristic world in which a fearless teen girl leaves behind her close community to be a Hunter in Apex City and finds something worse than the usual monsters.
Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it's taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe....

After her family is killed, Spirit White is taken to Oakhurst Academy, a combination orphanage and school for those with magical powers, where she and her new friends investigate when students start mysteriously disappearing.

With evil Mordred in charge of Oakhurst Academy, a school for magicians, can Spirit White and her friends save their fellow students and prevent the end of the world?

"When Miriam's younger sister, Princess Aurora, is born, she must learn to harness her new magical powers to protect her sister and the kingdom"--

Hunting monsters was supposed to be the hard part. When Joy came to Apex City, all she cared about was protecting the Cits from the dangers lurking outside protective barriers. She understood the need for the secrecy surrounding her Hunts—no need to cause a panic by announcing just how real of a threat the Othersiders pose.

But as she quickly discovered, the conspiracies of the city run much deeper. And a dangerous new covert mission

...