Seven interwoven narratives spanning three tense hours on a fateful day share the perspectives of a girl with a rare memory condition, a teacher who fears a student may be planning an act of violence, and a girl about to embark on a cross-country plot.

Delaware, the morning of April 19. Senior Skip Day, and April Donovans eighteenth birthday. Four days after the Boston Marathon bombing, the country is still reeling, and Aprils rare memory condition has her recounting all the tragedies that have cursed her birth month. And just what was that mysterious gathering under the bleachers about? Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Lincoln Evans struggles to pay attention in Honors English, distracted by the enigmatic presence of Laura Echols, capturer of his heart. His teacher tries to hold her classs interest, but she cant keep her mind off what Adrian George told her earlier. Over in Idaho, Phoebe is having second thoughts about the Plan mere hours before the start of a cross-country ploy led by an Internet savant known as the Mastermind. Is all her heartache worth the cost of the Assassins machinations? The Light Fantastic is a tense, shocking, and beautifully wrought exploration of the pain and pathos of a generation of teenagers on the brink-and the hope of moving from shame and isolation into the light of redemption.