As far as the world was concerned, Coby Harris died on the day that the Cabener neighborhood took over the City of the Forgotten. The city, having been formed by the teens ostracized from the fortified metropolises, was easily the most organized area in the post-plague world. Divided into five different neighborhoods, the original format of government included a representative from each sect who would all come together to make the best decisions for the city. But that all changed the day Cabener seized the power.

The neighborhood used to pride itself on their miraculous team of six: Harper and Phoenix Smith, their cousin Cameron Dawson, Kamai Wells, Donovan Mayler, and Coby Harris. These six were notorious for their rebellious attitudes, their tendencies to wreak havoc wherever possible. So it was unsurprising that they were behind the coup that put Harper at the top of the hierarchy. The surprise was what came after.

In the week following the mass rebellion, Kamai had disappeared. The word on the street was that she had been captured by some other group from a different city. Donovan had also set himself on fire. He had set off an explosion, one that would change the course of the city forever, but in the process put himself into a coma. Finally, Coby was gone as well. He had changed his name, grew his hair out from a buzzcut, and cut all remaining ties to the team that destroyed everything.

The moment Harper took power, she divided her neighborhood in half. There was Fidelus, the side where everyone involved with the rebellion and supported her fully stayed, and then there was Paricida, the dilapidated side that never truly got built to begin with. In Paricida lived all her enemies, anyone who she thought might threaten her power. The name itself meant traitors. Of course, she wasn't about to kill those people off. Not because she was merciful, but because she was smart. 

Jacob Hart had a small hut in the busiest part of the loyal Fidelus side. It would have been far too challenging for him to request to move to the side of the enemies. Although it had been over a year since he last spoke to Harper Smith, news of him moving would reach her quickly. Jacob lived with Donny, his best friend. The two had met as children, and grew up side by side. When the plague hit, they ran away. They were from nowhere near the city, same as everyone else, yet somehow they all ended up there together.

Following the coup, Donny was comatosed for five weeks. In this time, he had been referred to in the neighborhood as a hero, he was honored and praised like never before. Jacob knew that he would have loved the attention. If only he had been conscious to see it. When Donny finally woke up, he was confused to see the way his best friend had changed. He was going by a different name now, and his hair was growing out for the first time in a decade.

"Harper's insane. We can't be associated with this any longer," Jacob had tried to explain on their first night back together in his hut.

"Slow down," Donny said, "Let me try and talk to her. I almost died for her, she'll have the decency to listen." The following day, the two boys waited nearby Harper's office in the building where they had once lived when they were members of her inner circle. The tan walls gave them flashbacks, reminding them of the people they used to be. When the city was first being formed, life seemed so exciting to the boys. They had their first real dose of freedom, as there were no teachers, no small-town adults telling them where they could or couldn't go, what they could or couldn't do, who they could or couldn't be.

After knocking on the office door, it was soon opened by Cameron Dawson, the cousin. There was a time when these three boys, along with Harper's twin Phoenix, were practically inseparable. They were in constant trouble during that first year. Since the coup, Jacob had hardly seen Cameron, as he was always stuck alongside the twins. Seeing him in the doorway reminded him of the bittersweet memories of the time the City of the Forgotten felt so good. He could tell that Cameron was thinking the same thing.

"Donny! You're alive!" Cameron exclaimed, eyes widening. It seemed that the news hadn't yet made it to the tyrant, or at least she hadn't chosen to share it with her kin.

"Cameron!" Harper had snapped, "Get back here, we have work to do." She had turned around and looked straight at Jacob and Donovan, but if she recognized them, she didn't provide any sign. Instead, she acted as though they were strangers, as though she'd never met the boy who pushed her out of a grenade, taking the force unto himself. That was enough to prove to Donny that his friend was right, and while the first year in the city may have been the best time of their lives, their old friends had become strangers.

"So now what?" Donny had turned to Jacob, "We just stay in your shabby new hut in the middle of Fidelus?"

"I know some girls in Paricida. I've been crashing on their couch practically every night since the coup," Jacob shrugged. Donovan nodded, realizing this was a likely explanation. His friend's home was too clean for him to be sleeping there every night.

"You? Finally sleeping with a bunch of girls?" Donny laughed, "You're a riot, Coby Harris."

"Jacob Hart," he corrected. But oh, how Donovan was right. What a riot he was.