BOOK TWO: Demon Thief

Cornelius (Kernel for short) Fleck has never been normal. His whole life, he has seen glowing patches floating in the air that nobody else can see. Sometimes these patches pulse. He can rearrange them any way he likes. As a young boy, he is not aware that it is strange to see the "lights". Kernel discovers the hard way that other people don't see them and is ridiculed for claiming to see them. Sometimes Kernel puts the lights together and things happen like the time he "goes missing" for two days and can't remember where he went. His parents decide that the whole family (Kernel, his parents, and his younger brother Art) are going to move out of the city.
At first, small town life is happy. But one day the supposed town witch confronts Kernel, saying that she too can see the lights and that he will see her die. She threatens to slit his throat if he should tell anyone about her. Later, the school class is outside and she attacks and explodes. A door opens in the air and a demon named Cadaver emerges, biting off the teacher's head. He kills several children. He is followed by four people who seem to know what's going on. They chase Cadaver back through and he takes Art. Kernel follows to save his brother.

Kernel is thrown in to the world of the Demonata. He eventually finds the four people and learns that they are "disciples". The leader is Beranabus and the other three are Raz, Nadia, and Sharmila. They are after Cadaver in hopes of finding the Kah Gash (a weapon that has the power to destroy the Demonata universe). While there, Kernel discovers that he can put the pulsing lights together to make portals to different demon worlds and to our world. This is unheard of. They come to a gruesome battle with some demons. Raz is killed but Kernel and Nadia manage to escape but without the others. They come to the human world and Nadia takes the chance to run away from the Demonata forever. But Kernel needs to get back to save Art. In an attempt to get back into the demon world, he follows the pulsing lights. They lead him to a punk concert where he overhears two men, Shark and Dervish discussing demons. A portal is opened and the three of them fight off the demons and enter the Demonata World.

The three meet up with Beranabus and Sharmila. Beranabus forces Kernel to make a window to Nadia and then forces her to come back. They continue to follow Cadaver until they reach a world and castle made of webs. It all belongs to Lord Loss. They find Cadaver in the castle with Lord Loss, Art on his lap. Beranabus bargains with Lord Loss for Cadaver. He agrees in exchange for a member of the group. Nadia is chosen and explodes. Then the other three argue for Art's release.

Lord Loss gets out an ancient chess board and says that their souls will be sealed inside it. Kernel will have three chances to guess who the "real thief" is. If he is correct, everyone can leave and they can take Art too. If not, they're souls will live in the board forever.

Inside the board, Kernel finds his way through a pitch black maze by manipulating marbles that were in his pocket with magic. He chases after a child-looking demon and falls into a river of molten lava. To his astonishment, he is rescued by Nadia. She informs him that when she was killed that her soul was not in her body. She secretly had joined Lord Loss due to her hate for Beranabus. Saving Kernel was her last good act.

Eventually, Kernel finds Dervish and Shark. Then they use the marbles to track down Cadaver (Kernel believes that he is the Demon thief). He catches Cadaver and guesses that he is the thief. Lord Loss appears and says that he is wrong. Kernel's next guess is Lord Loss. Also wrong. After much thinking and remembering, Kernel realizes that he, himself is the real thief. They are released and Lord Loss tells them that Kernel came through a portal earlier on (when he went "missing") and stole a demon called Artery. He transformed him to look like a human child and shortened the name to Art. Because this transformation was such advanced magic, Lord Loss had decided to let Kernel live so he could observe him. When Kernel brings back Art, his parents decide to keep him even though they knew that he wasn't theirs. That was why they moved.
Lord Loss is willing to give Artery to Kernel, after making him human again, with a warning that he will always be a demon on the inside. certain to hurt others. Kernel decides to leave without a brother. But at home, things are much worse. Seven years have passed for his parents to learn to live without their kids and are deeply disturbed that he has come back exactly the same as they last saw him. Kernel travels back to Beranabus and tests his lights in a few ways, coming to the conclusion that he is one of the pieces of the Kah Gash.