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

His light was on, which meant someone in the home was out late. Did he and Lyra go on a date? If so, we hadn’t seen them at the Archives. Was he at Lyra’s house right this moment? Doing what?


I pictured them both sitting on her bed—it was easy enough, as all bedrooms looked alike, mine, my parents’, Kyer’s. I saw him holding her hand, or easing her back against the pillows, or kissing her the way I had kissed Brin. My whole body clenched like a fist at the thought of his lips touching hers.


Then the image shifted and it wasn’t her bed at all. It was mine. It was me beneath him, being pressed down, being kissed. Me he murmured into. Me he touched.


I stepped off his stoop without knocking and moved closer to the monorail. Maybe I’d follow it all the way around the residential area and back home. Maybe I’d catch the next train and ride it around the track once before calling it a night. Maybe—


Chapter 28