Juliet Seven is waiting on a sea craft offshore from war-torn Mangeria, hoping that her beloved Nicolas will soon join her. Instead, the boat is pirated by a Reject boy stinking of rot and oil. A storm rises and they are swept away. They reach a new land, but all is not what it seems in this perfect place of refuge. Juliet is desperate to escape. Since the day of her birth, the blind tellers of Mangeria have prophesied that Juliet is ‘The One’. What will she have to do to fulfil her destiny?

In the future, the world has flipped. Ravaged by the Conflagration, this is a harsh world where the relentless sun beats down, peoples lives are run by a heartless elite and law is enforced by a brutal brigade. A mark at the base of the spine controls each persons destiny. The Machine decides what work you will do and who your life partner will be. In this world, everyone must make their contribution. Some more than others. Juliet Seven - "Ettie" - will soon turn 15 and her life as a drudge will begin, her fate-mate mate will be chosen. Like everyone else, her future is marked by the numbers on her spine. But Ettie decides to challenge her destiny. And in so doing, she fulfils the prophecy that was spoken of before she even existed. (For 14-16-year-olds)

Ben Smith has the perfect family, but in the sixteenth year of his life, everything changes. Ben's world is pulled inside out, his love-life turned upside down. Three things happen: A truck collides with a bus. A plane lands in Dubai, one passenger short. There is a vicious dog fight. Ben's family circle suddenly grows by one, then by two and then by another. The sum of all these new family members should be three, right? Except everyone knows that two plus one relatives don't make three, they make trouble. It's a year of relative madness.

13-year-old Ben Smith attends St David's, where rugby is a compulsory sport. After the annual derby against Voortrekker in which a St David's player is severely injured and rushed to hospital, Ben inadvertently catches a glimpse of a bottle labelled Methyltestosterone in the player's tog bag. But when he is told "It's just vitamins, OK?" by another team member, he remembers some references from the team's facebook pages and realises that it is steroids. What follows turns Ben's life upside down.