Sixteen year old Aine lives in the Colony, and his whole life was decided before he was born. In two years he will marry the girl next door, Brin, who was assigned as his Other at birth. Then he will be given a position in the Colony's workforce that best suits his talents. Each night he takes four pills, like everyone else in the Colony, and he knows the pills keep them safe and their world in order. Everything is fine. Perfect, in fact. Until Aine accidentally drops one of his pills. Terrified, he tries to hide the mistake, but when he dreams for the first time in his life, he discovers all he's been missing. What scares him more than not taking the pill, though, is how alive his dreams make him feel. Because it isn't Brin he dreams of but his best friend Kyer. Another boy. Suddenly Aine's world turns upside down, and he doesn't know what to think or who to trust. All he knows for sure is he's falling in love with Kyer, which is forbidden by the Colony's Code, and he will do anything to protect their budding relationship. Even if it means defying the Overseer and leaving the Colony behind.

The Colony Book 1: Rebellion

Kyer turned, a look of studious confusion on his features. “Why me? She’s your Other.”


In the Colony, Others were our soul-mates, the literal other half of our being. No one kept secrets from their Others, as far as I knew. Why wouldI tell Kyer something I didn’t share with Brin?


Because I dreamed of him and not her, my mind whispered.


Could the Colony be wrong? Could Kyerbe my true Other, and not Brin?


No—he was male, I was male; two men couldn’t couple. It was in the Code. Others were opposites who, when fused together, formed one Whole being. Two people of the same gender couldn’t belong to each other. They simply couldn’t


Kyer stared at me, waiting for an answer I didn’t want to give. I shrugged and tried to step around him, but he moved to block my path. “Why didyou tell me, Aine?”


Softly, so softly no one else passing would overhear, I admitted, “I had a dream.”


Chapter 12