Living in the town was weird. No one ever talked about the war. Not what they were doing when it happened, who they’d lost, or how they’d survived. And they certainly never talked about what they’d believed before. Mom said people had learned from their mistakes and were trying to trust each other. I think they were afraid, and that they trusted no one. So, we all lived strangely, like ghosts in a waiting room.

—Love, Grace

How long had I been here? Why was it always dark?

Was I asleep? Where was Eire?

Where was I? Think, Ella. What do you remember? Start at the beginning .

The war. The war started. We were safe. We became cyborgs, like we were supposed to.

Then…we needed to go to sleep. But not me. I was awake.

We didn’t go outside. The air turned stale.

I tried to keep busy…I wanted to learn.

I found something. The silver rain. I found out what it was. I—