Summary

The novel opens with Hetty Chapin trying to figure out what she is hearing outside the fence. Hetty is one of about 100 girls who was attending the Raxter School for Girls on Raxter Island when a plague struck. Only about half of the girls and two teachers remain. They call the plague the Tox and it has changed each of them. One of Hetty's eyes has fused together and she can feel “something growing underneath” (3). A teacher named Miss Welch is leading the three members of the Boat Shift back inside the fence. The four are the only ones allowed to leave the school campus. Hetty and her best friend, Byatt Winsor, are standing watch as the Boat Shift returns to campus. They travel to the other end of the island several times each week to pick up a supply delivery. Hetty's other...