THE INSTITUTE

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Elliss parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except theres no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents-telekinesis and telepathy-who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, \like the roach motel, Kalisha says. You check in, but you dont check out.