After eight years on the stage with The Company of Fiends, the glow of the spotlight is starting to wear thin for Hazel Nix. The theater is perfect for a girl like her-one with a secret she keeps even from her more monstrous peers-but playing pretend is only exciting for so long. After so many lovers, on stage and otherwise, Hazel has yet to make a lasting connection with anyone and considers taking her last bow at the company. Just as Hazel encounters a new and intriguing patron, disaster strikes the theater. Girls are going missing and suspiciously bad luck plagues the stage. Between ex-lovers, current bed partners, and new faces at the theater, Hazel's heart is tangled more than ever and she finds it increasingly impossible to draw herself away from the life she's known for so long. It is time to make a choice. Start fresh before she's drawn into the mess, or take a stand and fight for the family she's found in the strangest of places.