Lapidius

Thirteen-year-old Joey is in trouble. His mother can hardly feed him, which-because of his small size-is saying a lot. As war moves closer to their little town, his mother's options for more work are a big fat zero. Desperate, she sends him to a place where he won't starve. Soon after arriving, however, Joey learns that he and the hundreds of other children aren't just charity cases. Lapidius is a prestigious military institute that develops specialized skills for combat. But Lapidius is also a mysterious place where Joey learns that the battle for which they are being trained is full of magic, malevolence, and monsters.