Fear looms over the mountainside town where Timothy Hawthorne lives, its people living each day in dread of the dangerous anarchists hiding somewhere in the foothills nearby. Fortunately for the people of Kawts, the Council is there to protect the people from this threat. As a way of making sure that each citizen can pull their own weight throughout the attacks, every student must end the year by running The Race. The winners are greatly rewarded. The loser is never seen again. One year ago, Timothy Hawthorne's best friend Quill was the unlucky loser, leaving Timothy with a mysterious wooden box and a host of unanswered questions. But when Timothy is caught up in the middle of a raid on the Kawts Library, he realizes that there is more going on in his town than meets the eye. As he begins to dig deeper, he uncovers a web of deception and intrigue that involves many of his closest friends. As the truth about the Council becomes clearer, Timothy must decide who to trust. Choosing wrong c...