During the Second Civil War, a new U.S. political party called the Family Protection Movement established The Divide, which separates Normal people from those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Seventeen-year old Serenity Blackwater lives in the normal Midwestern town of Mapleville, but she is not normal. She hacks into an illegal gay chat room and meets Dawn, a lesbian who lives in a gay community less than a mile away. Serenity discovers normal people can bribe their way inside the walls and decides to go, both to meet Dawn and check out what may be her future home. Dawn is even more beautiful than Serenity hoped, and the two soon become a couple. But Serenity only has a few months before she must take the Normal Verification Test, and then she’ll be separated from her family forever. So she joins the Human Equality Organization, an underground group working to end The Divide. Dawn thinks the rebellion is too dangerous, and since Dawn’s ex-girlfriend Malaki is also a member, Serenity doesn’t tell Dawn about her involvement. Serenity reveals to the HEO that her parents are leading a campaign to organize attacks on all Gay Communities. With her help, the HEO creates Project Jericho, in which all Gay Communities walls will implode at once. But after too many delays, and when Dawn discovers Serenity has been spending more time with Malaki than her, Serenity knows she has to start the revolution herself. She heads to D.C. to contact a group of senators secretly against The Divide ... or straight into a trap set by the Family Protection Movement.

Uprising

“We can’t trust those senators, they’re not even real,” Mal insisted.


“We can’t just bomb a guard outpost,” I snapped. “Innocent people live there!”


“Enough,” Sol said, standing again. The sight of his upraised arms quieted the room. “For now, we are keeping all members inside the walls. All missions are cancelled. This is the last time we will hold a meeting here. If we do resume meetings in the future, they’ll be at our new location, and you’ll learn where it is when the time comes.”


Several people nodded in agreement, but many more groaned, including me. Mal and I were still standing.


“Miss Blackwater,” he said, turning to me. “You’ve got a choice to make. You can stay in 17 and work with us, but you’ll have to voluntarily ban yourself. I can’t allow you to be a spy anymore. There’s too much danger—”


“Sol!” I said, tears forming in my eyes.


Chapter 50