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

That left the blue pill in the bottom of the paper cup. I toyed with the idea of flushing it down the toilet, but what if the filtration system picked up the residue and traced it back to me? Crushing it into the sink and washing it away might pose the same problem. Finally I crumbled the paper cup in my hand, feeling the pill disintegrate in my fist, and buried it beneath the trash in the bin under the sink. No one would think to look in there.


No. It would be tossed out with the rest of the refuse. My mother wouldn’t look in it. She’d have no cause to.


Satisfied, I brushed my teeth and used the toilet, then dressed for bed. After Kyer’s comment about the Monitors watching us, I’d change in the bathroom from now on. He might’ve been joking, but he might not have been, either.


Chapter 24