Imagine a world without music. Just think about it. No soundtracks in the movies, no number 1 in the charts, no MP3 players, no tunes to whistle in the dark. Imagine this world without light, with hideous creatures lurking in the shadows. Eleven-year-old George Tweedie doesn't have to imagine. This is his world and these are his nightmares. . . nightmares that haunt him throughout the day.But monsters of the night aren't George,s only problem. Monsters of a different kind surround him at his new school. School could be survived if home was sweet and pleasant, but all that changes when his father returns from a war a different man.Had a hideous clone replaced his father? Who was the stranger in the storm, the one who followed him wherever he went? Who were the Seraphim? What were their designs on George? How could he escape the claw that reached from the nightmare and grabbed him? After he is unjustly thrown off the school bus for defending himself, George gets the answers to these questions, and then his problems really begin.