In the year 2051, most Americans live in one of two gigantic, modern States. Faith Daniels, part of a dwindling group that lives in the wasteland in between, learns that she has unusual abilities that could help when the inevitable war begins.

With the impending closure of the post office, the transition to the new communication system VEXT-mail is anything but smooth for the human and paranormal residents of Ghastly, Illinois. Story told mostly through letters.

A freshman at MIT, seventeen-year-old Mei Lu tries to live up to her Taiwanese parents' expectations, but no amount of tradition, obligation, or guilt prevent her from hiding several truths--that she is a germaphobe who cannot become a doctor, she prefers dancing to biology, she decides to reconnect with her estranged older brother, and she is dating a Japanese boy. Can she find a way to be herself, before her web of lies unravels?

"It is 1937, and Laura Ann Langston lives in an America divided--between those who work the mystical arts and those who do not. Ever since the Great Rust, a catastrophic event that blighted the arcane force called the Dynamism and threw America into disarray, the country has been rebuilding for a better future. And everyone knows the future is industry and technology--otherwise known as Mechomancy--not the traditional mystical arts. Laura disagrees....