Rules of the Cage

To survive his childhood, he learned to hide. To survive the hallways, he became an icon. But beneath the flawless armor, a storm is brewing.Sixteen-year-old Bailey is a magnificent spectacle. As an avian hybrid with striking crimson eyes and brilliant copper-and-russet wings, he rules the corridors of Hybrid Academy. Dressed in gold hair chains, a micro-pleated plaid miniskirt, and an untouchable, sarcastic attitude, he is the school's ultimate enigma. Seventy-two percent of the student body has a hopeless crush on him, and he plays the crowd like a violin.

But the runway walks are a lie.

Beneath his gorgeous, theatrical defense mechanism lies a fragile glass armor. Haunted by a childhood of chaotic domestic violence and the cold, sterile abuse of his aristocratic grandparents, Bailey's mind is ruled by severe trauma. He lives by a rigid, suffocating set of internal rules: count every bite of food, brush his feathers until his skin burns, and tap out a frantic rhythm to keep the panic away. Above all else, he must never make a mess. He must never take up space.

When an aggressive encounter at school shatters his public facade, the cracks underneath are laid bare for the world to see. Worse, the sudden vulnerability draws a sinister, obsessive threat out of the shadows-one that knows Bailey's deepest psychological triggers and intends to lock him right back in a cage.

To survive a dangerous, high-stakes game of cat and mouse, Bailey cannot rely on his father's protective hovering or the school's watchful eyes. He must confront his deepest anxieties, unlearn his rules of survival, and decide if he has the courage to untamed his lethal avian instincts and finally spread his wings.