In The Familiar: Volume 2, the lives of the disparate and dynamic nine characters begin to draw together and intersect in inexplicable ways: slowly, steadily, inevitably.... Once again, at the center, is 12-year-old Xanther. Her new cat is now firmly in her care but strange changes have begun to afflict her. Worse than the pain she feels when separated is how the world around her seems to be opening, whether doors and windows, visions and sounds, or questions and ideas.