By Quoleena Sbrocca

Rayne isn’t the average 17 year old. To everyone in her colony, she’s less. In the early hours of their second birthday, the Homo praestans experience the Luminescence and awaken to a mystical ability. But the Luminescence never came to Rayne that night. On her 17th birthday, she awakens from a night which she never should have experienced. Desperate to learn why this is happening to her 15 years late, she soon realizes the answers lie east, in the capitol. If anyone has the answers, the ten councilors of the Pax-Atlanticus Realm will. An adventurous detour reveals a land destroyed by war and nuclear fallout, and Rayne soon learns that everything she knew about the world and the Ancients is a lie. After witnessing a thing called murder, she encounters a species supposed to be extinct. It is in this scorched, desert world, void of the sun and rain, where she learns the source of her abilities and the malevolent purpose behind them. It is also where she learns there are other teenagers out there who are just like her. When she finally makes it to the capitol, she gains new allies and learns just how far the Board is willing to go to maintain control.