Shyla Harris knows that adults are hiding something from kids-something frightening. The Special Protection Act forbids anyone to tell children under 18 about this secret, and the law is enforced by an agency with unlimited powers of censorship, surveillance, and enforced use of secrecy products. Shy's brother has learned the secret and is searching for an answer. She is torn between learning the secret in order to help Jeffrey or ignoring it for her own peace of mind. The secret comes closer when her grandfather "goes" never to return, she hears pitiful wailing but cannot find the source, and she witnesses two bodies disappear. During summer recess, Shy and her best friend Harrie visit Shy's grandmother and discover a cave in which they learn something that could end the people's fear. However, to speak of it brings risk, and by the end of the summer, Shy, her family, and her friends find out firsthand just how dangerous it can be.