Maya, thinks she's just a normal teenager living in a really small town created by the local research center for its employees and their families, but it turns out she's not 'normal' at all. Sure, she can heal animals a little to well, and local cougars seem to have taken an odd liking to her, but Maya hasn't yet figured out that those things mean anything special. After her best friend, who happens to be captain of the school swim team, mysteriously drowns, there are hints that perhaps Serena's death wasn't the accident it seemed. Serena's ex-boyfriend Daniel is Maya's best friend, but there doesn't seem to be anything romantic developing there - yet. Enter new kid in town, bad boy Rafe, and Maya's inexplicable attraction to him. Turns out Rafe knows a lot about Maya that he's not telling, at least at first. For those who saw no hint of Daniel's supernatural ability, I'm surprised. The hints were subtle, but there. In one scene, his eyes glowed red. In others, he was faster and stronger than human. Again, this is no different from the hints dropped in the first YA trilogy about other teens and their supernatural abilities. I'm sure in the next book, we'll find out exactly what Daniel and Sam are (I have strong suspicions), as well as Hayley and the others. I found this book to be engaging, and the cliffhanger ending just as tantalizing and frustrating as I've come to expect from Ms. Armstrong. I enjoyed Maya and her animals a great deal, and find I am very curious about Sam, and Daniel. I enjoyed Rafe and his connection with Maya, although I'm expecting some more road bumps along that path, perhaps with best-friend Daniel stepping up to express an interest for more than friendship? I'm also curious if Maya's parents will prove to be villains, or unsuspecting bystanders. Someone in that small town has committed murder, and I'm willing to bet it's someone Maya already knows, and probably trusts.

When Maya's freind dies everything changes. She starts having strange nightmares and animal like behaviour. Maya also has a paw shaped birthmark. She is then told she is a skin crawler and that she can go into the body of an animal. After the murder of a mysterious reporter and other strange happenings Maya's secluded town gets set on fire.