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

Apparently Brin had been ready to be angry with me, but the Overseer was a different matter altogether. Suddenly she melted, leaning into me as if nothing had happened and giving me that sweet, sunny smile I had grown to like better on Kyer. “Oh, well, you couldn’t help that, could you?” she purred. “I can’t quite believe I’m going to be married to the Overseer one day.”


Though nothing about that sentence was true, I held my tongue.


She wrapped an arm around my waist and stood on her toes to kiss my cheek. “Hey,” she whispered.


In the distance, I heard the whooshof an approaching train. I smiled down at her, my thoughts on Kyer and the kisses we had shared the night before. “Hmm?”


Her other arm came around the front of my waist and she clasped her hands together, holding me between them. “Let’s go out tonight.”


Chapter 60