“One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War and the next minute he was gone. There. Gone. No ‘poof.’ No flash of light. No explosion. [...] For a moment he thought he had imagined it, the teacher disappearing.”

The shocking opening lines portray the suddenness and unexpectedness of the inciting incident. The high tension, confusion, and shock occur next as Sam and his friends try to understand what has happened. The starting lines also establish the book’s tone of mystery, uncertainty, and fear.

“‘No way, man,’ Quinn said. ‘Every adult and older kid in the whole school just disappeared. That makes no sense.’

‘It’s not just the school,’ Astrid said. [...]

‘My mom,’ Sam said.

‘Man, stop this,’ Quinn said. ‘All right? It’s not funny.’

For the first time Sam felt the edge of panic, like a tingling at the base of his spine. His heart was thumping in his chest, laboring as if he’d been running.”

An underlying repetition of impossibilities starts as the three characters realize the truth about their missing families. Quinn stating that it makes no sense describes the mysterious, uneasy tone threaded throughout the novel, as readers and characters are curious for answers and reasons. The description of Sam’s physical stress is realistic and adds specific sensory details for immersion.

“He was scared. And he was mad, too. Where were the people who were supposed to do this? Where were the adults? Why was this up to him? He was just a kid. And why hadn’t anyone else been crazy enough, stupid enough to rush into a burning building?”

Themes of fear and responsibility appear in Sam’s internal thoughts. He is the only one with a sense of duty to save the little girl in the burning building, but he is afraid and irritated, as these heavy burdens shouldn’t be put on kids but given to trained adults. Sam’s blunt, upset tone also shows his stressful state and his feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty in the face of danger, especially when a child’s life is at stake.