When his father disappears, Dax faces every living nightmare to find him. Dax Candeland is navigating another difficult day at school, where no one shows enough consideration for his dislike of contractions or his obsession with numbers. One thought sustains him: it's his sixteenth birthday, and he will celebrate it with his father. Alone, the two of them enjoy their meal and a special understanding–until Dax visits the bathroom, where the sinister clown from a poster comes alive, making him both fear and doubt reality. Back outside, the world has changed beyond recognition, and his father has gone. So begins Dax's quest to find his father and learn why he vanished in the first place. In this new world, Dax meets gargoyles, monsters, witches and giants–but why do they bear a strange resemblance to the people in his life? His tendency to overthink and obsession with details become his greatest advantage as he is forced to solve riddle after riddle to advance his search. Yet the closer he gets to solving the mystery, the more dangerous the creatures in this new world become. All Dax knows is that he must find his father quickly–before the search kills him for real.