Every student in the school knew that all the most important aspects of school life were controlled by a secret club called Shadow Council. Each fall, Shadow held a traditional lottery during which a single student's name was drawn. The rest of the student body called this student the lottery winner. But Shadow Council knew better; to them the winner was the lottery victim. Whatever the label, the fated student became Council's go-fer, delivering messages of doom to selected targets. In response, the student body completely shunned the lottery winner for the entire year. This year's victim was fifteen year old Sally Hanson.