When second year Carthwright University student Olyss Glass is assigned Emory Ghosh as her roommate for the year, she thinks she couldn't possibly have worse luck. Emory is intimidating - as the lead intern at CarthTech, she's heading up a top secret initiative known to the rest of the world as The Gloaming Project, and on top of that, she's the smartest person Olyss has ever met. In an attempt to find some common ground, Olyss convinces Emory to re-open Emory's old amateur detective agency together, but neither of them could have anticipated that a series of seemingly unrelated cases link back to a conspiracy that could threaten the world's freedom of thought. And there's definitely no way they could have known that the conspiracy is Emory's fault.

After getting caught selling to a minor, Hawke spends fifteen months locked up. In his absence, Eoin gets his shit together--he stays sober, he gets an apartment, a decent paying job. He steers clear of Naome, Hawke's ex, of the people out for Hawke's money--or his life. When Hawke's locked away, it's easy. No one warns about how addictive a guy like Hawke can be, how easy it is to get caught up in the whirlwind of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Fifteen months of peace, and then Hawke's release threatens the foundation of Eoin's stable new life.

Sometimes, Ryan still feels like he's sixteen, sitting in a classroom staring at the marks on Nakoa's arms, trying to figure out the enigma of a young man slumped in the desk next to him. Ten years, they've known each other, and Ryan wonders how much of Nakoa he really knows. Ten years, Ryan's been in love with him, and still, Nakoa's holding his truths hostage. Ryan has his own secrets, though. He lied to Nakoa about the rent, he lied to Jean that he cares about working Pride, and he lies to everyone that he's not in love with Nakoa. He might not know it, but Nakoa's the most important thing to Ryan. Even if it means wanting for more for the rest of his life, Ryan's content to keep things as they are, afraid pushing at all will push Nakoa over the edge completely and he'll never see him again. Nakoa runs from any intimacy Ryan shows him, though, preferring to get wasted, never admitting he feels anything beyond skin-deep. It's not about being selfish; it's about survival.

Jen and his various friends belong to @indecentpause Prequel to From the Roof of my Mouth warnings: drug abuse, drug overdose Before everything, before they were friends-with-benefits, before college and complications, they were Nakoa and Ryan. Two idiots still telling each other lies, still hiding secrets they shouldn't, still searching for something unnamed. Ryan meets Thom during his and Nakoa's first vacation, in the summer after high school, and Nakoa tells himself it's not jealousy burning through his veins when he sees Thom and Ryan together. Instead, he aligns himself with Jen, who Nakoa knows the night they meet that Jen will push him to new limits. It's not a romance. Nakoa learns to fill in the blanks left by Ryan's distance with drugs, with highs, with the taste of cherries on Jen's lips. It's not a romance, but Ryan forces himself into a box to make things work with Thom, until Nakoa's poor judgment and emotion flare into chaos.

Everything has an origin story. A spooky town settled in a dried up lake bed, off the beaten path, idyllic and just this side of wrong; a town built on urban legends and folklore, on nightmares and unease, on one man's mistakes that trickle through the ages. A small town too caught up in each other's business to notice what's rising under their feet. Elijah's just lucky enough to be at the epicenter.

Stealing from anyone is a risk. Stealing from a pirate is downright foolish. But Isaac's right where he wants to be. On a pirate ship, under the Captain, sailing away from Lowen and the life he was forced into.