Rory Vaughn: a brainy sixteen-year-old who has always felt like an outsider, although she can't put her finger on a reason why. When she is accepted into an elite boarding school, she believes she's finally found a place where she belongs.

Theden Academy: the only high school of its kind, Theden is an intense two-year liberal arts program for the strong willed and highly gifted. But behind its polished exterior lurk dark secrets—including ones about Rory's own past.

North Pascal: a handsome, tattooed, coffee barista townie who knows as much about philosophy as Rory's classmates. He was banned from Theden's campus for breaking and entering. This isn't North's only secret.

Lux: the decision-making app that everyone uses. No longer caught up in the details of their everyday lives—all those endless decisions!—people are free to just enjoy themselves.

The Doubt: the colloquial name for the "whisper within" that children hear but adults are taught to ignore.