Xavier Michaelis is smart enough to fear the demons that haunt the aboveground world. He knows better than to question decisions that protect them all - even when they cause life as he knows it to turn on its head. When he and his sister Ada are suddenly relocated to the far out city of East, Xavier for the first time feels the firm hand of Central slacken, and with it the safety and structure he's always known. And if living on the brink of humanity wasn't enough, now there's the chance his future job is at stake, Ada's might take her away, and worst of all he might never get to leave. Between a bipolar genius, more than a few unhinged soldiers-to-be, an air of rebellion and lack of fear itself, Xavier isn't sure what to fear anymore: demons or people.