Hidden in the outskirts of the Rocky Mountains, innocent young creatures are being tortured for the sake of science and the well-being of mankind. It's here at the DNA Alteration Experimentation Laboratory-more commonly referred to as DAEL-that ten-year-old Jay and eleven-year-old Sara become friends. Jay's genetic code has been spliced with that of a bird of prey, and Sara is a three-way blend of a human, bird, and cat. Other children's DNA has been combined with that of fish, wolves, lions, lizards, and plant material-and horrible experiments have been conducted on all of them.
Though Jay has lost two siblings, she gains a power that helps her and thirty-five other mutated children to escape from this whack-job science lab. Jay and her newfound friends journey in the world outside of DAEL, one for which they are not prepared.
The DAEL, however, isn't so willing to let any of them escape. The scientists have sent some of their most successful experiments after the children: the warhounds, human-wolf hybrids. What's more, the lab's newest creations-a set of robotic, wolf-like creatures-have also been deployed to hunt them down. The children must rely on their strengths and courage if they want to survive in a world outside of the lab that has been their home for years.