Demon moves into the McCobb foster home—parents, two grade‑schoolers (Brayley and Haillie), and infant twins—immediately sensing money stress and little cheer. The McCobbs took him for the stipend, even asking him to “chip in” for food while housing him in the former dog room. Mr. McCobb runs small schemes and has Demon help stuff mailers, but offers no pay and pushes him to find work despite his age.

Food is scarce: dinners are minimal, snacks are rationed, and Demon’s hunger becomes constant. At school he relies on free lunch, scavenges uneaten items, and lies to Maggot that his placement is fine. When Demon complains, Miss Barks believes the McCobbs’ denials and urges him to be more assertive, leaving him stuck between want and the risk of being moved again.

Weekends, Mrs. (Eva) McCobb drags Demon on pawnshop runs to sell jewelry and baby gear, sometimes provoking public fights with shop owners. Car rides with screaming twins and the empty, repo-stripped house underline the chaos and precarity.

Driven by hunger, Demon begins night raids on the kitchen snacks. Soon the stash disappears from the fridge top; the kids start keeping private hoards, and Demon realizes he’s been detected without knowing how.

By befriending Haillie, Demon learns family secrets and secures her help smuggling food. She warns him to eat outside and reveals the reason he was caught: a baby‑monitor camera hidden in his laundry‑room “bedroom.” Demon grasps that he’s being surveilled, deepening his isolation and caution.