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

When we had done the math and figured it all out, Brin had been excited. “Who do you think it’ll be?” she kept asking, wanting to review all our classmates in search of the perfect candidate.


Personally, I thought the best bet would be Kyer, but I might’ve been a little bit biased. Maybe it’d be a woman, since the one before Zan had been female. “Maybe it’ll be you,” I had joked.


Brin squealed with delight and playfully slapped my arm. “No way. I’d go crazy with all that responsibility. The whole place would crumble if they picked me.”


“You wouldn’t go crazy,” I teased. “We take pills for that, remember?”


But the look she gave me said otherwise. “Aine, trust me, there are notenough pills in the whole Colony to make me take that position.”


Chapter 22