Publisher's Synopsis
12 year old orphan, Maggie Pincus, lives in a, seemingly, perfect house with her, seemingly, perfect step-mother and, seemingly, perfect step-brothers. But behind closed doors, Maggie's life is anything but perfect. Living with a facial deformity and despised by her adopted family, she believes that a life of servitude is all that she deserves; until the day her Stepmother's 'social-elite only' garden party is gate-crashed by three dead looking giants. When they demand to take a terrified Maggie away, her step-mother all too quickly agrees, only for a mysterious figure to appear to Maggie's rescue. Carrying Maggie away from the giants, he runs faster than any human should be able to. Soon Maggie falls into unconsciousness.When Maggie awakens, she finds that her facial deformity is gone and that she is the guest of honor at a party thrown by her Father, a man she thought was dead. Over the next few weeks Maggie revels in her new life with her Father, overwhelmed with happiness at his return to life. But the question of why he faked his death lingers, until eventually he reveals the reason for his absence; that the world, as she knows it, is a fake.In reality, humans are merely a shell for two beings; souls and internals. Souls live in the mind and control everything the body does in the 'outside' world, while the internals live 'inside' the body and control the machines, within, that make it work. Together, souls and internals share two worlds that rely upon each other to exist. With rising upset, He explains that he is what is called a free soul; a rare soul with special powers that allow him to control a body without the need for internals. Consequently, he is on the run from the internals who not only despise him but, whom are secretly waging a long fought war to enslave all souls and make internals their masters. Knowing that they were looking for him, he tells her that he made the painful decision to leave her, his only daughter, out of fear that the internals would come after her if they knew of her existence, out of fearing that she too also had powers. Having now created a safe place for souls like him, he had finally sent for her, convinced that she didn't have powers and wanting her to be safe. Sensing her skepticism, her Father gives her undeniable proof releasing Maggie from her new, perfect body and into her true form, as a soul; a tiny being towered over by the world she once knew.As the weeks pass Maggie is overcome with happiness as she spends time with her Father, learning about this new world and enjoying the other 'free' souls rescued by her Father. While they are all close One of them, Pethora, quickly becomes like a big sister to Maggie. Only one remains distant, Janus, who rescued Maggie, only to find that she has no powers, is distant. With each day, his resentment toward Maggie grows. as He becomes convinced that the risk he took, on her Father's orders, will only bring the war to their doorstep. His fear seems unfounded until, weeks later, another seemingly dead looking giant appears in the middle of their oasis, killing Maggie's Father in front of her and stealing both of their bodies.Without her Father's leadership, the house quickly dissolves into disarray as Janus seizes control, hatching a plan to get rid of the 'useless' Maggie, once and for all. But before he can put his plan in place, a distraught Pethora smuggles Maggie away and hides her inside the body of an old woman, where she must live in an orphanage and pretend to be an internal until she Pethora can return.Still mourning her Father's death, Maggie has to quickly adapt to her new fake-life as an internal...where she begins to discover vast amounts of hidden secrets, makes many unique friendships, and learns of those individuals who are not necessarily out for her best interests.
