Lacy DeMark is a first-grade Riverton teacher in the year 2032. The schools have become the nation's battlegrounds, and teachers are now trained in defensive disablement. They wear body armor to school and are trained as well and maybe even better than the nation's military. Though students have become increasingly difficult to control, to Lacy, the biggest problem at the moment is a six-year-old terror named Colter Stecks. In her efforts to get him the help he needs to control his violent outbursts, she finds herself chased, shot at, and the only barrier between Colter and his angry drugged-up father and uncle. Lacy grabs Colter and ducks into an old shed to hide, only to discover that the shed is an old mine shaft. The two crash through the rot-weakened floor and are left for dead by the men chasing them. After struggling to find a way out, they discover that although the field and sunshine they encounter as they leave the shaft look like home, they are no longer anywhere or anywhen near it. Their first clue-her cell phone has no service. The second clue-the two men riding toward them on horses are dressed only in leather pants and boots. They are not friendly men-these are predators. As is her habit, Lacy sings as she easily defends herself and Colter from these men, only to discover that there are more men riding toward them. Lacy stares in exhaustion at the tall handsome warrior leading this new group of men. He stares back at her in disbelief...or is that admiration? Marek McKenzie saw the little singing warrior drop the two men he had been chasing. He is intrigued as he and his men approach. Lacy is injured, tired, and outnumbered. Though she strives to do her job and defend Colter again, she is unable to fight any longer. She is forced to trust the big man the others call Marek. Marek knows she needs him, and he is most happy to accommodate that need whether or not she accepts it willingly.