Ella Mitchell's life hasn't been considered easy by any stretch of the imagination. By age 14, she'd dropped out of school and was living on the streets, and generally considered a town crazy. Amy Brighton would argue against that last point. Eccentric was a far better term, she thought. Still, she only paid slightly more attention to Ella, since they'd shared classes right until she'd dropped out.
Amy wished she'd spoken more to her.
On the 18th of July, Ella disappeared without a trace. No evidence of kidnapping, or murder. Most people promptly forgot about her, presuming her dead. Amy didn't quite forget, but Ella moved to the back of her mind, an unsolved mystery to be explored when no longer relevant.
Eleven months, two weeks, and four days later, Ella's back. Not dead by any stretch of the imagination; still being snarky and flirtatious and funny and telekinetic and-
Wait, what?
In the eleven months, two weeks, and four days since her disappearance, Ella had been involved in some experiments giving her telekinetic abilities. As soon as she was strong enough, she escaped. She doesn't know who the organisation is, what they wanted with her, or why, but she knows she needs to hide from them (and the rest of the world, since she's meant to be dead) while she finds out. Amy, according to her, is the perfect cover.
After berating Ella for abandoning her so suddenly, Amy agrees to hide her and try to track down the organisation before it tracks down them.
This book contains examples of:
- Beware the Nice Ones: Amy is usually pretty patient. However, if you suddenly disappear for eleven months, two weeks, and four days, suddenly reappear in her bedroom complaining about the quality of her pens, and act like you haven't been missing for nearly a year, she will be quite ready to give you a "The Reason You Suck" Speech then and there.
- Bio-Augmentation: How Ella gains her abilites.
- Disposable Vagrant: Why Ella was largely forgotten about, and why her disappearance didn't garner much attention.
- Escaped from the Lab: Ella.
- Mind over Matter: Ella's telekinesis gives her the ability to control objects with her mind. However, she is limited to smaller, lighter objects that she can pick up normally with no issue, due to her lack of practice.
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: Discussed. Since Ella is a blonde white girl, Amy wonders why her disappearance didn't get as much attention as other girls usually get. Ella points out that her Disposable Vagrant status makes it easier for news to ignore her.
- Phlebotinum Rebel: Ella, again. A willing victim who didn't realise the gravity of the situation until it was too late, and Escaped from the Lab. After gaining telekinetic abilities, of course.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ella is the Red (reckless, snarky, loud, extroverted, boisterous) to Amy's Blue (cautious, polite, quiet, introverted).
- The Only One I Trust: Ella almost quotes this trope by name while trying to convince Amy to help her.Ella: Amy, please. You're the only one I can trust.
