In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.

When Etan, who doesn't speak, and Malia, who is also known as "the Creature" due to her acute eczema, become friends, Etan must convince his family and hers that he might have a cure for her condition.

For most of her eleven years, Delly has been in trouble without knowing why, until her little brother, RB, and a strange, silent new friend, Ferris, help her find a way to be good--and happy--again.

"Parker hasn't spoken since he watched his father die five years ago. He communicates through writing on slips of paper and keeps track of his thoughts by journaling. A loner, Parker has little interest in school, his classmates, or his future. But everything changes when he meets Zelda, a mysterious young woman with an unusual request: 'treat me like a teenager'"--