Daisy lives happily in a care home with twelve other children, sheltered from a dangerous world of sickness and war. As everything finally returns to normal, she and her friends begin to explore the city beyond the Water Meadows where she has grown up. But while there are exciting new experiences, there are also people who are quick to take advantage of naive teenagers, to exploit them for their own financial gain. They are both cunning and ruthless, and it isn't long before Daisy and her friends find themselves threatened by them.

Not only that, there is something mysterious about Daisy’s friend, Sophie, a comparatively recent arrival to the care home. Why will she never speak about her time before she arrived at Xunzi House? Why, when everyone else seems to be spreading their wings and enjoying their new freedoms, does Sophie seem to withdraw more and more? And why does she seem to be afraid of the world out beyond the Water Meadows? Is she, perhaps, right to be fearful - and if so, what does that mean for Daisy and her friends?

For years the world has been a dangerous place, but at last the country is getting back to normal - or is it?

Book Extracts

Daisy desperately needs to get help for her friends, but she has little Toby with her, and he is tired, an he doesn't understand...

I was out of that window at once, and running, almost tumbling down the metal stairs. I needed to get back to Xunzi House at once, quickly, before my friends reached the docks and I lost them for ever.

It was properly night-time by then, of course, and very dark. Environmentally friendly street lights are, no doubt, a good thing, but they tended to make pools of orange on the pavement and road, with long, dark shadows between. There was no traffic. I ran across to the road to the place where I had left Toby.

At …