Trix, an orphan charity case at a snobbish boarding school, is given a glimpse at a whole new world full of potential friends and deadly enemies when the Circus Galaticus comes to town.
After bullies at the Bleeker Academy for Girls prevent her from attending a gymnastics competition--and thus becoming an astronaut--and a mysterious man visits her in the middle of the night, 15-year-old Beatrix Ling finds refuge with a space-faring circus. The performers aboard the Big Top are all Tinker-touched, spreading diversity and color where the descendants of the Mandate leave conformity and order. Trix's suddenly pink hair helps her fit in, but she seems to lack superpowers like her classmates'. Trying to juggle homework--because even spaceships have school--the social scene and her budding affection for the enigmatic Ringmaster, Trix must also protect her parents' special rock and outrun the villainous Nyl, an agent of the Mandate.
