Prologue

Everyone knows about the tests -- what they do, what their purpose is, and most of all, how much they hurt. But by the time they're sixteen, most kids have been eliminated from the program, and the tests are distant memories from a time when they lived underground and were surrounded by lab coats and needles.

Not Ary. As the most promising candidate for finding a cure to the disease that has infected most of the generation before her, Ary feels trapped in the excruciating tests as doctors struggle to find a cure. She knows the tests are killing her, but how can she ask to stop when she could have the potential to save so many lives?