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

Finally, she set her tray aside and looked at me. I turned from staring across the room at Kyer and met her steady gaze. She seemed to pick her words carefully when she said, “You’ve been lying to me.”


“What?” I asked, incredulous. “No. About what?”


Slowly, I stopped chewing and set my own tray on top of hers. Then I took one of her hands, the way she liked to hold mine. “Brin, I never said that.”


Her mouth twisted into a pout. “Areyou taking them?”


“Of course.” The answer came automatically, though I added to myself, Only two of them.But she hadn’t asked how many. Trying to convince her, I added, “My mother started watching me take them every night. Doesn’t yours do that?”


The pout turned into a troubled frown. “But you’ve been acting so…I don’t know, so weirdlately. And back in the Archives room, you didn’t raise your hand when everyone else did.”


Chapter 42