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The novel starts twelve years prior to the present, and introduces Chloe Saunders, a three year old girl. Her mother and father are going out for dinner, and she has a babysitter named Emily, who has her get a soda from the basement. Twelve years later, Chloe is fifteen and going to a Fine Arts school. Her father is working as a contractor in Berlin, Germany and she is taken care of by her aunt, Lauren Fellows. At school, she is asked out to the dance by a boy named Nate Bozian, and has her first period. However, Chloe ultimately sees a ghost, with his face almost completely melted off, and begins screaming, running, and attacking a teacher accidentally, culminating in her being removed from school and locked up in Lyle House, a group home for "troubled teens." She is introduced to the nurses, Mrs. Talbot, Mrs. Wang, and Miss Van Dop. While unpacking, Chloe meets her roommate, Liz, a sixteen-year old, who introduces her to the others, Tori, fifteen, Rae, sixteen, Simon and Derek, foster brothers, both sixteen, and Peter, an eighth grader. Derek, as she soon learns, is extremely quiet, often frightening her, and Tori (who has an unrequited crush on Simon) does not get along with Rae very well, although she and Liz are best friends. Liz is later accused of throwing a pencil at Ms. Wang, who threatens to have her transferred, and quit teaching the children in the house. Rae and Chloe talk more, and she learns that Rae supposedly is a pyromaniac; the two quickly become friends. That night, Chloe is woken by a fearful Liz, who believes that she has a poltergeist- hence the pencil throwing- and convinces her to help with a séance to ward it off. However, it goes horribly wrong, with a picture crashing down on Chloe and the nurses discovering. Liz is transferred that day, but Chloe sees her that night, with Liz apparently unaware of her transfer. As the situation is being explained, Chloe passes her hand through her, and begins to suspect that Liz's ghost appeared to her, meaning that she would be dead. Tori, stricken, stays in her room, and Peter is released from Lyle House Chloe researches necromancy at Derek's suggestion, learning that necromancers raise ghosts from the dead. Beginning to suspect she might be one, she realizes that the medication given to her might be hindering her from seeing ghosts (as the ghosts she saw only spoke broken English) and resolves to stop taking them. She also receives a note from Simon asking to talk with her in the basement. Upon entering the basement, she discovers that it was Derek who wrote the note -pointing out that she would come down for Simon, but not for him- , and he asked her what she thinks about necromancy. Thinking he is trying to frighten her, Chloe tries to get away, but Derek throws her across the room with his enormous strength, leaving marks on her arm. After talking it over with Rae, she resolves to get Derek's files and learn more about him; she finds out from his file that he has demonstrated enormous strength in the past, severely harming someone once, and often has violent outbursts. Later that night, Simon talks more with her, revealing that he has the power to cast spells- such as levitating a basketball- although his powers are still heavily hindered, and explains a bit more about Derek. They run into Tori, who sees their talk as Chloe stealing him from her. Chloe sees another ghost, but forces it away, and sees Liz, who remembers the last thing as being the seance. Rae confronts her about not telling her. She visits Dr. Gill again, who begins having her urine tested, and Derek asks to meet her again- this time in his room. Rae and her make up, and they visit the attic where Chloe has been seeing the ghost, breaking in, but they only find a little chest of belongings. After asking to visit Liz, Chloe is refused, further arousing her suspicions that she was killed. Tori's mother, Mrs. Enright, visits Lyle House, and commands Tori to stop hanging out with Simon and to start getting better. Tori, distraught and angry, visits Chloe while the others (except Derek) are out swimming, and declares a truce, claiming to know of something she might want to see. The girls go down to the basement crawl space, and Tori knocks Chloe out with a broken brick, ties her up, and gags her. After waking up, Chloe discovers her plight, and unexpectedly raises the ghosts from the graves there. Frightened, she tries to escape, and encounters Derek, who helps her put the dead to rest again. Dr. Gill discovers them covered in dirt, and Aunt Lauren later learns about it; they assume that the two had gotten together alone because they like each other, and Davidoff puts them both on notice. Chloe and Derek escape for the night, noting key locations to hide in for the escape. Rae, having learned about their plan, asks in on it, claiming to be able to produce fire from her skin. Next day, after telling Derek and Simon about Rae, Simon relates the details of Derek's incident, revealing that he had stood up for him because Simon, having gotten in a fight over some kid disliking Vietnamese, had been unable to keep quiet. Derek comes in, announcing that he and Chloe need to leave that night; he will not come because Simon might notice, as Chloe has, that his powers have been bothering him lately, causing him to sweat and be more irritable. They decide to take Rae along after she produces smoke from her hand; She finds him extremely sick and volatile. Chloe chooses to stay with him as he turns into a werewolf, then back to a human. However, Dr. Gill and the others are after them, so Chloe talks to Gill, who wants to take her back to Lyle House, but Derek knocks her unconscious. After going back for the dart, Rae convinces Chloe to go to Aunt Lauren with proof. They do so, taking a taxi, and explain about Lyle House, and Aunt Lauren takes Chloe to a hospital, where she is revealed to have betrayed her by drugging her. Chloe is put in a cell just before drifting off, and after waking, contacts Liz's ghost to help her escape. |
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