During a dramatic standoff with the military, Day’s mother is murdered, and he and his brothers are taken into custody. June is conflicted and confused, but her loyalty to the Republic and her fallen brother wins out, and she turns Day in. June and Day begin to fall in love, but one night, June realizes that the boy is Day when he reaches for something at his neck, and she thinks of the pendant found at the scene of Metias’s murder. Day and Tess are trying to find enough money to buy plague medicine for Day’s brother, but medicine is expensive, and the odds aren’t looking good for the little boy. She spends a few days with them, and at first, she doesn’t know that the handsome boy from the streets is Day. June goes undercover and ends up running into Day and Tess. Fueled by rage and heartbreak, June vows to chase down Day and avenge her brother’s death. However, her dream becomes personal when she is told that her brother was killed by Day during a hospital break-in. Her parents died when she was young, and now June dreams of joining the military and capturing the infamous criminal Day. June is the only person in the entire Republic who earned a perfect score on her Trial, and she lives with her older brother Metias. He flees, thinking that he only wounded the man, and he loses his father’s pendant in the process. During his escape, he throws a knife and hits a young captain named Metias in the shoulder. Day breaks into a hospital hoping to steal plague medicine for his brother but has to make a quick escape to avoid being captured. Plagues frequently break out in the poor sectors of Los Angeles, and Day learns that his younger brother has contracted a mysterious strain of the virus.

In the Republic city of Los Angeles, 15-year-old Day failed the Trial when he was 10 but narrowly escaped his fate and lives on the streets with his 13-year-old companion, Tess. High-scoring children are rewarded with luxurious lifestyles, while those who score low or fail face a dark fate in the labor camps or on the streets. During the Trial, a child’s reading, writing, speaking, and physical capabilities are tested, and they are assigned a score that determines their future.

In the Republic, children are required to take a test known as the Trial on their 10th birthday. In the future, America has split into two halves: The Republic rules the Western half, and the Colonies rule the east.

Legend by marie lu