January Black

As the son of The Hill's commandant, sixteen-year-old Matty Ducayn is expected to conform to a strict, unspoken code of conduct. Small acts of defiance over years-such as walking on the grass-have earned him a reputation for being unruly. When sarcastic test answers finally get Matty expelled from school, King Hadrian offers him a diploma if he can answer a deceptively simple question. What was January Black? The challenge takes Matty, and his girlfriend Iris, beyond The Hill's walls and tightly controlled media into a gritty world kept in check by riot police. There, the young couple follows a path through old books and clandestine news pages that becomes a collision course with a deadly royal degree. As he realizes he's been set up to fail, Matty must make a choice: walk away from the challenge with Iris and his life. Or call the king's bluff.