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

I’m too exhausted to keep my eyes open much longer. But I have to ask. “Dawn, did you get my e-mail?”


She and Malaki exchange a look. Malaki sits up straighter and turns away, typing on her tablet.


Dawn nods and puts her uninjured arm around my shoulder. “I got it.”


I lean against her weakly, and for the first time since my capture I take a good look at myself. I am dangerously thin; the parts of my skin not covered in bruises and scars are a sickly grayish color. I don’t even want to know what my face looks like.


Malaki opens a compartment and grabs a water bottle and small plastic-wrapped packet. “Feed that girl, Dawn, damn.”


I sip water and take small bites of some kind of meal bar. I have so many questions for my dad, but since he’s busy flying us away from danger I don’t say anything.


“It’s going to be hard getting her through the tunnels,” Sol says.


Mal, still typing, says, “We can do it.”


Chapter 57