Future Japan, and an Altered girl on the run from the mafia. Sixteen-year-old Lotus was once fascinated by the portal legend her dad used to tell: of a world where people like her (the Altered Ones) live free. But when she's kidnapped by the mafia and forced to use her gift of Healing to make them a large profit, survival is all she can think of-that, and the new guard with a single wing who watches her every move. But when the boss's son is mortally wounded, Lotus seizes her chance at escape and recalls the legend and the clue left behind in her family heirloom. As she flees the mafia, can she convince her stoic, winged guard not to turn her in but help search for a mythical portal that may not exist? Especially when a notorious bounty hunter is on her trail, determined to bring her back dead or alive?