Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of kidnapping, death, rape, child abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual violence and harassment.

At FBI headquarters, Special Agent in Charge Victor Hanoverian studies a young woman, perhaps still a teenager, through a one-way mirror. She is one of several girls who have just been rescued from a catastrophe, one that killed a number of other girls. So far, the agents have had difficulty learning the names and backstories of the rescued girls, but all of them share a peculiarity: a colorful design on their backs, each one slightly different. The girl behind the glass, whose left arm and both hands are thickly bandaged, has been quarantined for special questioning by the FBI, mainly because the other girls seem to regard her as a “leader”; another reason is that she refuses to open up about her past. This makes Agent Hanoverian wonder if she might be an accomplice rather than a victim. Special Agent Brandon Eddison, Victor’s gruff second-in-command, brings the news that the other survivors refer to the girl, whom he calls a “tough nut,” as “Maya.”

Maya, a “beautiful girl” with “golden-brown” skin, shows no fear of the agents and cuts off many of their queries with puckish