Elias Vaulkery’s father is the Killer of Kohar—the ruler who destroyed his country’s largest city in order to end a civil war, along with 70,000 civilian lives. But those people were just Low-bloods, the country’s labor class, acceptable collateral damage—or so his upbringing in the ruling High-blood class would have Elias believe.

Hetty and Henley Giltmen never met their father. He was killed months before they were born in the decimation of Kohar—and there are just so many things to blame for that. The terrorists who started the war. A 500 year history of classism and civil unrest. A High-blood government that, after five centuries and six civil wars, still refuses to change. And, of course, a man named Vaulkery, who gave the order.

Now, fourteen years after Kohar, Hetty and Henley end up at the country’s oldest and most prominent school, with the Killer of Kohar’s son.

Soon, schoolyard fights, unconventional assignments, and an enigmatic religious order called Secret Keepers all seem determined to make these three lives collide, even as senseless attacks and the reappearance of creatures called Sleepers give rise to the worst of fears—that the civil wars might be starting again.

In a distant future where prejudice is law, three teenagers are about to face up to the sins of the past, while facing off against body snatching terrorists bent on destroying the High-blood government—no matter the cost.

But can these children succeed where generations of their countrymen have failed?