Rumors about the Kerasi and their violent society abounded. Kerasi played marbles with real eyes. Kerasi ate live toads the way decent people ate peanuts. Kerasi executed people just for walking down the street. The worst things Kerasi did didn't kill you, but you wished they did. Aila Perrin knew that for a fact. A Union operative had been caught on Kerasím. The Kerasi returned him without incident. His mind had been tampered with, erased, until he didn't have the sense to feed himself. When fourteen year old Aila finds herself abducted by the Kerasi, she has every right to be terrified for her life, but even bad things aren't always what they seem, and as Aila is drawn deeper and deeper into the Kerasi's plot, she can't help but wonder who the worst offenders are - the patriots fighting to free their own people, or her own precious Union that ignores their pleas for help. Can Aila forgive her captors and save a race of people without sacrificing her own?