After spending five relatively peaceful years working with gangsters and building a life with his new sister, Rodney is still haunted by the evil spirit of his tragic past. And it's not merely a figure of speech. But even so, their routine in a small village, hidden from the unpredictable vagaries of the climate and the terrible creatures that were once humans, has more ups than downs. Until one day, it all changes at once because of a bizarre murder that forces Rodney to come face-to-face with things he strove to forget. Now he has no choice but to stand against his traitor stepfather, a new Commander who arrives in the village to investigate the case. But the task is further complicated by the fact that, in an attempt to escape from his living nightmare, Rod stumbles into a creepy person in a hooded cloak who commands a wild monster as if it were his faithful dog. Who is this person, and why do creatures obey them? And, more strangely, why does Rodney hear the sounds that only monsters hear?