In the near future, a few young women manifest extraordinary abilities called "Shine." Each girl's ability is different. Some develop extraordinary mental abilities. Some become physically strong. Others have powers that defy description. But the world does not embrace these Shines. It fears them. Cassandra's life was turned upside-down by the destruction of Seattle. She had to escape from "St. Augustine's Home for the Mentally Deranged," where Florida's Shines were being incarcerated. But the escape only gives her a new and even more dangerous set of problems. She meets a boy, a cat, and an alleged Shine school, and they all claim they want to help her. But can she trust any of them? Or does she need to escape again, before the malevolent forces searching for her make escape--or life--impossible