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

I looked at him, confused. “What do you mean? We’re supposed to take a test to see if we’re fit for this—”


“True,” he said, nodding. “But the test is nothing more than protocol. Procedure, really. If you’re supposed to become a Monitor, then it’s already encoded in your genetic makeup. You’ve had it in you since birth.”


What?!“We get to choose our career,” I said, my voice quivering. “We get to pick—”


“And we always pick the thing we’re born to do,” he replied. “It’s in the Code. Look it up.”


I sat in stunned silence, trying to ignore the faint smirk I saw playing around the edges of his thin lips. So everythingwas decided for us ahead of time? Our Other, our career, our entire lives?


I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t


But then…look at Brin, I thought. Chosen for me, perfect—for me. When I found the right job, would it fit as snugly into my life as she did ? Would it be almost too right?


Chapter 13