Seven of the eight survivors of the Aero Horizon crash have made it out of the deadly jungle, but the desert into which they have emerged has its own dangers--meanwhile, one of the survivors is changing, and that may be the greatest threat of all.

Lavender and the rest of the sixth-graders are on a camping trip to the Chiricahua wilderness, but the trip seems cursed from the start, and when a flash flood splits the group up Lavender finds herself lost, together with her former best friend Marisol, mean-girl Rachelle, and a boy John who has been behaving like a surly jerk since the start--they have only one pack of supplies and only the most basic wilderness knowledge, but if they are to survive...