Sixteen-year-old Lysandra Blake is forced to question her sanity after attempting to rip her mother's eyes out of their sockets. The doctors want to know why she did it. Lys has no idea where this Need came from, she just wants it to go away.Lys is about to give up, when the mysterious Jeremiah Mason appears. He assures Lys that she's not crazy, she's addicted to a rare and deadly drug she swears she's never used. He offers hope, in the form of his recovery facility. Afraid of who she will hurt next, Lys agrees to go. At the old hospital, Lys finds that the other addicts have even more frightening Needs than she does. She and Kamau, a tall, handsome seventeen-year-old from Africa, discover that Mason has not been honest about their condition. When Lys starts seeing visions, she and Kamau are thrown headfirst into a world of unbelievable powers and dangerous possibilities.