"She saw his body was not a body at all. A bronze plate ran from his collar bone over his chest, stopping where his stomach would have been and giving way to ticking silver cogs, groaning mercilessly as they pumped what looked like clotted black oil." Coalridge. The name says it all. It's a barren wasteland running down the ridge to the little town where the people spend most of their lives deep underground, mining rocks as hard as their heads. Coalridge is where Vega is stuck, even though she's so different. Exiled with her family from a home she was too young to remember Vega belongs neither here nor there. The one place she knows she doesn't belong is crawling around in the mines. The only person who understands is Rigel, her brother. But when the pact that was meant to help their escape goes horribly wrong Vega ends up truly alone for the first time. It's strange how easy running away is when you have nothing to lose.