Thomas Van Zandt is 16, bored, and impatient. Born with the ability to control his autonomic nervous system, Thomas has one goal in life: to bring his abilities outside his own body to help others. He has no less than 86 experiments brewing in his head, but short of drugging someone and tying them to his bed, he has no way to conduct those experiments…
…until his dad finally agrees to bring him to the Attic, the top-secret military facility where others like Thomas, the Attic Dwellers, conduct medical research.
There, Thomas meets Dacey, a Dweller who managed to grow a second head. Desperate to save this “man,” Dacey appeals to Thomas for help. Thomas believes he can grow the man his own body, but there’s one big obstacle: will the new body have a soul?
The physical stuff is easy; Thomas had developed his abilities well. The moral decisions are more complicated. Thomas must fight his wavering faith, his growing arrogance, his father’s secrets, his girlfriend Tessa’s libido, and the wishes of those he heals to reach his goal. And even then, all his choices come down to one thing:
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.