September arrives. Six months have passed since the fight between Quentin and Penny. Quentin and Alice are starting Third Year, and have been assigned to join the Physical Kids. Over summer vacation, between the end of Second Year and the start of Third Year, Quentin returns home. Due to the temporal difference between the world of Brakebills and the real world, it is autumn in New York. Quentin spends most of his time taking “long walks,” emailing back and forth with fellow students, and studying the “History of Magic” (94).

Prior to summer break, Quentin and Alice were required to undertake testing to determine their Discipline. Alice’s testing revealed a strong command over physical magic, and particularly light. Quentin’s test results, on the other hand, were inconclusive. After putting Quentin through a series of tests, Professor Sunderland was unable to identify Quentin’s Discipline, and listed it as “undetermined” (93).

Quentin returns to Brakebills in early November, greeted by the “warm, sweet, late-summer air” (95) still permeating the campus. When the first day of Third Year arrives, Quentin and Alice are trying to find a way to open the door of a “precious white Victorian bungalow” (95).