“It wasn’t a prison. Not technically, anyway. No bars, cells, electrified fencing, guard towers, or razor wire.”

The novel opens with Aiden Falconer’s description of his remote juvenile detention center. He compares his confinement to Alcatraz, the facility supervisors with prison guards, and his fellow juvenile detainees to hardened criminals. In this depiction, Aiden reveals his own sheltered youth, his privilege, and his misunderstanding of how horrible the adult criminal system is.

“If this isn’t suffering, then what is?”

Again, Aiden demonstrates his privileged background and fundamental misunderstanding of the criminal system in the United States. He laments the suffering he endures as a captive at Sunnydale Farm, believing that his few hours of work caring for the animals is extensive labor and that the unsavory food constitutes torture. Soon, Aiden will come to understand how naive he was in his views.

“Look around you. You see a cage. I see wood, and hay, and papers. One match, and this whole dump burns.”

Miguel’s offhand comment foreshadows the way they will all escape from Sunnydale. A short time later, Aiden will spill the contents of his kerosene lantern and have a few seconds to put out the fire. Instead, he hesitates, recalling Miguel’s comments about escaping in the aftermath of a fire. In those seconds, the fire rages out of control.