Feeling betrayed, she decides to run away from them while at a gas station, and when she does, she runs into a small girl stealing food in a back storeroom. This makes her question Cate and the Children’s League, too. Yet Ruby sees, using her abilities, glimpses of memories that give her cause to doubt Cate’s colleague and boyfriend Rob.

Cate says she is with the Children’s League, an organization that opposes the camps. Cate sneaks Ruby out of camp and drives her and another escaping Orange boy, Martin, far away from Thurmond. A young doctor, Cate, passes Ruby a note offering her an escape if she will take the enclosed pills. In Chapter 4, the story resumes when Ruby is recovering in the infirmary after passing out from the White Noise. This accidental removal of Sam’s memory haunts Ruby. One day, in a heated discussion with her best friend Sam, a Green, Ruby touches her friend and receives flashes of her memories after that, Sam no longer remembers who Ruby is. Years pass for Ruby at Thurmond, where life is controlled by the PSFs (guards). She knows, however, that she is really an Orange. When the camp classified her powers, she was able to take over the scientist's mind and convince him that she is a Green. Shortly after, Ruby was taken to Thurmond. The novel flashes back to when Ruby was 10, living at home, and she first learned about her classmates dying. While working, 16-year-old Ruby hears the “White Noise” sound the camp uses as a control tactic the noise sounds more painful than usual, and she passes out. The novel begins in Thurmond, a government rehabilitation camp for Psi young people in West Virginia. Psi abilities fall into one of five categories, coded by color: Blues can move objects mentally Greens have advanced intelligence Reds can start fires Yellows can control electricity and Oranges can enter others’ minds. These survivors, called Psi, were put into camps for the safety of the country. Those children who survived it developed abilities that were deemed dangerous by the government. In this near-future setting, most children in the United States have died from a mysterious illness. This guide follows the 2013 First Paperback Edition.

The novel contains profanity and non-explicit references to sexual assault. In 2018, The Darkest Minds was released as a film adaptation by 20th Century Fox. Exploring themes of generational conflict and the power of memory, The Darkest Minds was the winner of Goodreads’ 2013 Choice Awards for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction. The first book in The Darkest Minds series is followed by Never Fade, In the Afterlight, and Through the Dark.

The darkest minds book series in order