Gwenore is ignored or bullied because every resident in Moon Danes, a middle-of-nowhere town, remembers what she did. When she was a kid she lied about two terrible things: being blind and the kidnapping of her best friend, Billie, for attention. Even Gwenore hates herself. She's as awful as the monster she could have sworn she saw take Billie-the inhuman being she fantasizes about every night, the one who looked at her like no one ever had. Like she was worth noticing . . . But Billie denies she was ever taken.
What really happened to Billie is a mystery that's lasted eight years. Gwenore wants answers, but more than anything, the high school senior just wants to fit in . . . somewhere. It's no wonder she's become obsessed with the strange school in the nearby woods.
When a new eccentric teacher comes along, promising to teach her about Hilltop Institute, she gets pulled into a dark world of shadow-beasts, betrayals, and vendettas. Soon she'll have to choose a side. Fight for the innocent or defend the monsters . . . the only problem is she doesn't know who's who.
With a new name and new life, Nathan must learn to fit in at an Academy of the Feral Investigation Bureau, or risk being sent back to prison.
*****
Escaping prison was only the beginning for inmate C41. Now on the run and going by Nathan, he's enrolled in an American Academy for training agents and joins the Feral Investigation Bureau, charged with hunting down criminals and sending them to the same place he just escaped. But after learning how blurred the distinction is between feral and non-feral, Nathan is forced to flee with his sister and his boyfriend, only to discover their safe house hides a secret that might cost Nathan his freedom.
Content and/or Trigger Warning: sex and violence. [Note: failed suicide attempt]
[[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]