Sometimes Jess Worthy wishes he were back in the high school gym getting pummeled in dodgeball. Or stuck in final exams. Or dateless at the spring dance. Anywhere on Earth. Anywhere but the darkest, creepiest, deadest world in the galaxy.

But the 14-year-old Oregon boy must solve the mystery of what killed every living thing on an eerie planet thousands of years ago – what could wipe out all life in the galaxy today. Including Earth.

Nameless enemies from the vastness of space – both fantastically far and treacherously near – conspire to corrupt Jess, sabotage his quest, or simply kill him. And when he stumbles on the one thing they want more than anything else in the universe, they go to nightmarish lengths to take it from him.

And he needs to keep it all a secret on Earth. But he's having some trouble with that.