My name is Dylan Taylor, human incarnation of the burning dumpster gif, and this is my life. I always wanted to be an X-Man. Except people and me never got along, and apparently you need social skills to run a successful team. Cue Emma Hall's party. One hot make out session with the host herself, and I can talk to objects like my pillow (who's far too invested in my love life) and my baseball bat (who was a pacifist before I got hold of him). Now there's a whole group of us with strange abilities, including super hot ice queen Dani Kim who doesn't approve of how reckless I can be. The bigger problem is a mysterious mutant causing unnatural disasters, and we're the ones who have to stop him. Except trying to make a difference makes things blow up in my face and the team's on the verge of falling apart. Can I bring them back together in time to stop the villain from taking revenge? Have I mentioned I'm not a people person? Magneto help us.

I spent my life dreaming of being invited to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Turns out irl it has the vibe of a Dark Kermit gif. I just want to stay in the closet kissing my hot girlfriend. Despite the chaos and me being a dumpster fire, things turned out okay last time. We beat the villain, and I'm part of a superteam. I have cool friends, and somehow (don't jinx it, Dylan), I even got the girl. Not just any girl-the icy badass who's secretly soft-hearted. Things should be great, right? Now the government's come knocking, and we're summoned to superhero school. Which is a dream come true, except it's run by a corporation. But not all corporations are shady, right? It's fine, if you can get over the teeny, tiny problem that there's also an evolution-obsessed organisation trying to figure us out. Plus, it turns out we aren't as rare as we thought. There's another group of mutants with dangerous powers running loose, and we're the ones who'll have to stop them. I hope the part on my school records that says near-pathological disregard for authority isn't going to come back and bite me. Maybe it'll be the thing that saves us.

“I let the mask fall away from my face. I let them see me. Dylan Taylor. Chatterbox. Mutant and monster. Teen Magneto. This is one of those pivotal moments. There’s a metaphor for this. I learned about it in history. The name of some river in Rome.”Here we go again. The Cute Mutants are back, bigger and badder than ever. Even better, we’re in charge of ourselves now. We’ve got a headquarters, gear, and an actual budget.Except, we’ve also got EMID—the American Extrahuman Monitoring and Intelligence Division—breathing down our necks to track down mutants for them. Even worse, there’s rumours of a mysterious killer with superpowers and a grudge against the rainbow community. And then there’s the promise from our last boss. The threat of war. Humans vs. mutants. The dream was to thrive, but maybe all we can hope for is survival. Whatever that takes. I think I’m beginning to understand the saying, “the end justifies the means.” There used to be a line between heroes and villains, didn’t there?

“Then understand this. I want to shoulder that burden for others. I want Quietus to break against me, to shatter. When I killed Abigail Tanner, I knew it would make me a target. I want that. It was on purpose. I’m not some reckless teenager who knows nothing. I’m a reckless teenager who knows exactly what I’m doing.” We’ve finally found a safe place for mutants, but it may not stay that way for long. There’s no shortage of battles to fight, and I’m itching to take the war to our enemies, even if not everyone agrees. Eli Crane has a lot of money, guns, and hate—and he’s only the first name on my list. Because Crane’s not our only a terrifying mystery lies in our past waiting to be unveiled, and we’ve got a dark vision of the future swinging at us like a fist. A lot of people are gunning for mutants, and we have to keep ahead of all of them. We’re not schoolkids anymore. We’ll have to be revolutionaries, politicians, and criminals to make it through. Surviving the experience isn’t guaranteed.

"This was one more hit in a long and dirty fight. I'm exhausted and useless, but I don't know how to stop. I'll keep taking punches until I don't feel them anymore." Everything's different now. We've still got enemies everywhere, but we finally have the power to fight back. It's time to change the world. No matter what it takes. "Amongst the killer fight scenes and nail-biting tension is a poignant and tender story of friendship, belonging, being accepted, and most of all loved exactly as you are." \- Melody Robinette, YA fantasy author "...a queer, rainbow-glitter explosion of subverted tropes and fast-paced action that leaps from the page straight into your heart." \- Jenna Voris, author of MADE OF STARS