Chapter 1
- Whit is jolted awake by the sound of a nearby helicopter. It's two o'clock in the morning, and someone's shining a very bright light through his window. Rude.
- Whit peers out of the blinds and sees hundreds of armed soldiers. Is he just sleepy? Nope. They're really there.
- Whit wonders what on earth is going on. He vaguely recalls elections and civil unrest… Whit isn't exactly politically aware, though.
- Suddenly, Whit realizes the soldiers are coming into his house. He doesn't have time to shout a warning before they knock down the front door.
Chapter 2
- Wisty wakes up to the sound of overturned furniture and shattering glass, and she assumes her brother has been drinking again.
- For some reason, she thinks about her brother's girlfriend, Celia, who's been missing for three months.
- Wisty hears her dad yelling about something, which makes her realize something's wrong. Now she's paying attention.
- Someone crashes through Wisty's bedroom door. It's two uniformed dudes. What do they want? Unclear.
Chapter 3
- One of the soldiers tells Wisty that he and his colleagues are with the New Order; he tells her to come with them.
- Wisty wants to change first, but her request is denied.
- Suddenly Wisty realizes that something like this probably happened to Celia. She has the desperate urge to disappear.
Chapter 4
- Just as Wisty think she wants to disappear, it seems the uniformed soldiers can't find her. Coincidence?
- Wisty hears her mom shout her name from the hallway. She shouts back, and the soldiers grab her and drag her into the family room.
- She sees her brother Whit, who asks her if she's okay. Uh, not really.
Chapter 5
- Wisty sees her parents and realizes they understand what's going on in a way that she doesn't. Vaguely, she recalls a lifetime's worth of her mom telling her how special she is—she never thought anything of it until now.
- She realizes that one of the soldiers is Byron Swain, a kid from school. Byron is not exactly well-liked.
- Byron tells Wisty that she's being taken into custody to await trial for being a witch. Since Wisty does not identify as a witch, though, she's confused.