"Beware, child. Behind thee stalks the terrible shadow of thy beast."So Father Wisdom, leader of New Harmony, has told her since she was very young. Under his harsh eye, Self-Abnegation in the Service of the Lord has always struggled to subdue her "demons" of temper and rebellion.But when Wisdom's punishment kills one of her sisters, Abnegation flees the cult compound and hitches a ride across the country to Seattle. There she tries to forget her past and become Abby: a normal, modern teenager who lives with a typical family, wears ordinary clothes, goes to school with other kids, and maybe even has a boyfriend.She can't outrun herself, though, and Abby soon discovers that the beast inside her is all too real. She is dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful in ways she never imagined. Can she learn to control the wild part of herself? Or is she destined to be the monster Father Wisdom always warned her she would become?