After Jen is killed leading a rally to protest the Population Law at the end of the first book in the series it is no longer safe for Luke to remain in hiding on his parents’ farm.

Having only ever met six other people – his parents and brothers, Jen, and Mr. Talbot – in his entire life, Luke is overwhelmed by the size of Hendricks, and the hundreds of boys who are always around him.

He is never alone and so can't read Mr. Talbot's note, and the first night in his dorm room one of his roommates (who he thinks of as ‘jackal boy’) bullies him until well after lights-out.

For the next week Luke is miserable; he is frightened that he will give away the fact that he is an illegal child and be caught, he goes to classes he doesn't belong in to just to avoid drawing attention to himself, and he is bullied by jackal boy every night.

Luke sees that the leader of the group from Hendricks is jackal boy, and as he listens to their conversation he realizes that they are all illegal shadow children, just like him.

Luke agrees, and learns that many of the shadow children in Jason's group are hall monitors at school, and that most of them – including a boy named Trey – are afraid of the outdoors.

Although joining the group has made things easier for him, Luke finds that he does not fully trust Jason, and spends every free hour studying anyway.

Realizing that Jason is a traitor and planning to betray members of the group, Luke knocks him unconscious and leaves him with the school nurse.

The next morning at breakfast, a Population Police officer comes into the dining hall and announces that he has a warrant for the arrest of illegal third children, but before he can read the names on his list Mr. Talbot arrives with Jason following behind him, in chains.