In the year 2045, climate change is killing people. Fifteen-year old Lily Star must use her power over water to save her family and thousands of refugees from dying of thirst in the parched American West.
Even though Lily's a powerful Diviner, and can call water from Everspring, the family's only source, they must ration every drop to stay alive. The U.S. has split into two unfriendly factions, the United Western Republic and the Eastern Alliance. When the Republic's Minister of Water, Tanner Voles, discovers that Lily has the power that he's been seeking, he pressures her to use it for his own political gain and the benefit of the water-hungry Capitol. But Lily and her family refuse, suspecting that Voles will exploit her to get the water for the Republic and then kill her so nobody else can use her power.
To gain control over her, he forces the family to Floater Camp 65, a broiling wasteland filled with thousands of Floaters, the homeless refugees of rising oceans and forest fires. There Lily befriends Nate Arnett and 1Planet, an underground resistance group of kids who fight the government and give their generation hope for the future.
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
*****
Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
[[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]