Nathanial and those left of the original twelve may have made it to the end of phase one of their training, but will they all make it to start of the second, let alone finish it? Book II, the chess board becomes deadlier; Professor Redmond sharpens his game and the council's fractious nature starts to unravel. Against this, Nathanial must act to survive Chris' retribution while treading carefully not to become a statistic for the mystery informant who is killing the remaining eight, one by one. And what has this all to do with the cryptic question Commander Reed gave Nathanial to figure out? In the end the real question is; of those who are left standing, which side will they be on?