The Academy

For decades the Collective have lived among us, infusing their alien DNA into our own, creating children with supernatural abilities. At sixteen these children are stolen away to the brutal proving grounds known as The Academy, where the weak perish and graduates are forged into a clandestine army to be sent out into the world to infiltrate: governments, businesses, media. They lie in wait for the birth of the child who will possess the "god-gene," the child who will lead them against humanity.

Sixteen-year-old Lara Ashley is that child. Constantly suppressing the destructive energy rumbling inside, she's led a life of self-imposed isolation-a life that shifts abruptly when her father ships her off to the Academy. It's here where she learns to harness her frightening powers, here where she is given an impossible choice: survive the Academy and become the weapon of humanity's enslavement, or die.

Zane Grey arrives at the Academy with one goal: He must kill the "god-child" if humanity is to have any chance in defeating the Collective. The problem? He has no idea who he's hunting. While working to out his target, Zane grows close to Ashley, the surprisingly innocent girl who seems utterly out of place amongst some of the most powerful people on the planet. Learning the truth nearly breaks Zane. After feeling nothing for months, he's fallen for the very girl he must kill. Every day he hesitates is a day she grows stronger, the task more difficult. In the end he'll have to choose between love and duty, with both coming at a terrible cost.