Joseph Crabtree

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

On Angel Island, the Ceremony is almost ready. The cameras are in place. For Ruth Black and her husband, the Reverend Matthew, there’s just one problem: their intended sacrifice has plans of his own. Huddled around a forbidden computer in the compound’s junk shop, five teenage prisoners launch an escape against impossible obstacles: a barricaded church, the electrified perimeter fence, the Key Tower guards, an invisible wall in the water that surrounds the island prison - and against the soldiers of Open Light of Day.