After the Thaw

In a new world isolated by a rising, toxic sea, a single bridge connects Askala to the Outlands. Those who remain will need to pass a "proving" to determine if they have the intelligence and heart to champion the future of their broken Earth. Those who succeed will become Bound, the ones chosen to breed. Those who fail, are Unbound. Free of responsibility, but robbed of their ability to bear children.

Four tests. Seven days. Nine teens. Only the chosen shall breed.Humans now live in a super greenhouse. Seas have risen. Oceans have acidified. And the fight for resources is deadly. To ensure nothing of this magnitude ever happens again, only those with enough intelligence and heart will earn the right to bear children and heal the earth. Nine teens must face the tests of the Proving to decide who will be Bound to this new order. Four of them will challenge the system in ways even they can’t imagine.

Four teens must face the fallout of the Proving. Three have made it through. One has not. Nova. Kian. Dex. Wren. Four lives defined by the outcome. Four lives who thought the Proving was the most difficult test they would ever have to face. They all assumed Askala was safe, but a link to the Outlands has been established and a Remnant invasion is now a threat. In a starving, damaged world, Askala has what others want.