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

Dawn slips her hand in mine and whispers, “Yes, you did.”


I laugh as we walk into the elevator, pretending not to notice as Mal rolls her eyes.


The first floor is nearly empty. Just a few soldiers are patrolling. We walk to the locked war room; the lights are dim here.


Mal takes a deep breath and enters a code on the door. “I better not get shipped off on that plane for this.”


As we enter the room and Mal turns on the lights, I rush to several computer towers, turning them on and lighting up the giant screens on the walls.


“We’re going to set up an online feed that interrupts all other computer servers. Open an admin panel.”


Mal immediately rushes to a keyboard, cheeks flushed.


“What language are they speaking?” Akasha asks Dawn.


I glance over to see them both standing in the center of the room, wide-eyed.


Chapter 68