Ruse remembers water, darkness, and then nothing. Nothing—and then suddenly she’s awake in a shaking room she doesn’t recognise. She doesn’t recognise these other kids either—one a small girl with a frayed rope dangling from her neck, the other a starved-looking boy wearing a tattered mask over his mouth and nose. Wherever they are, it isn’t safe. Flashing colours and bizarre sounds filter through the cracks in the wood, giving way to a nightmarish carnival. Ruse knows that she needs to get out of here, but are her new companions friends, or enemies? When one wrong move can land you in the arms of monsters—and worse—Ruse will have to find a way to survive. Can she and her new companions possibly endure this frightening and twisted world? Or will they be warped forevermore by its dark influence?