Wither (the Chemical Garden, #1)

The first book in The Chemical Garden Trilogy is set in a dystopian future in which many nations have been destroyed. Seventy years before the story begins, scientists perfected genetic engineering, producing a generation of disease-free humans. Their children and grandchildren, however, are born with a fatal virus: Males die at 25, and females die at 20. Wealthy men called House Governors purchase kidnapped young women as polygamous brides to bear children, while scientists scramble for an antidote that never arrives.

Rhine Ellery, a 16-year-old girl from Manhattan, New York, is lured to a fake medical screening and captured by Gatherers, men who kidnap girls to sell as brides. Trapped in a van with dozens of other girls, she is lined up for inspection. A man with gold teeth selects Rhine and two others; the remaining girls are loaded back into the van and shot. Rhine is drugged with sleep gas and wakes days later in a lavish bedroom in a Florida mansion.

Gabriel, a young attendant close to Rhine's age, brings her meals and treats her gently. He was bought by Housemaster Vaughn at an auction when he was nine and barely remembers the world outside the mansion. Rhine wanders down the hall and meets Lady Rose, the House Governor's first wife, who is dying of the virus at age 20. Rose coughs blood onto Rhine's nightgown, and Rhine realizes Rose is the wife she is meant to replace. When Gabriel returns that evening, Rhine notices he is limping and bruised, suggesting Vaughn, the House Governor's powerful first-generation father, punished him for failing to keep Rhine confined to her room.

Rhine's backstory emerges through her memories. Her parents were first-generation geneticists killed in a lab bombing by pro-naturalist terrorists opposed to antidote research. Since then, Rhine and her twin brother, Rowan, have survived alone in their parents' house, working factory jobs and fortifying their home against thieves and Gatherers. Rhine was captured after answering a newspaper ad for a bone marrow screening that turned out to be a trap.

Rhine is sedated and prepared for a wedding ceremony in the rose garden. Her fellow brides are Cecily, a 13-year-old orphan thrilled about the marriage, and Jenna, an 18-year-old who appears deeply forlorn. Their husband, Linden Ashby, places rings on their fingers while his father, Housemaster Vaughn, presides over the dinner. Vaughn's cold presence unsettles Rhine and the other wives. Rhine resolves to earn Linden's trust as a strategy for escape.

The wives are confined to a single floor accessible only by a key-card-operated elevator. Rhine searches for escape routes but finds none: The windows are sealed, the air vents are too small to crawl through, and the fireplace is fake with no chimney. She befriends Rose, who advises Rhine that Linden is her only path to freedom. Rose dies shortly after. During a storm, a malfunction sends Rhine and Gabriel's elevator to the basement, where they witness workers in biohazard suits wheeling Rose's body on a cart. Gabriel warns that Vaughn must be studying Rose's remains for antidote research and that they must never reveal what they saw.

Linden begins sleeping in Rhine's bed after Rose's death, seeking comfort, though their relationship remains non-sexual. Meanwhile, Gabriel starts hiding June Beans, Rose's favorite candies, in Rhine's breakfast trays, and their friendship deepens. Rhine also bonds with Jenna, who reveals that her two sisters were among the girls shot in the van. Jenna hints at being afraid of Vaughn, though she will not say why.

Linden consummates his marriage with Cecily, who later becomes pregnant. Rhine is disgusted but hides her contempt. During a hurricane, Rhine breaks through her bedroom window screen and runs into the storm. She climbs a miniature lighthouse on the mansion's golf course and spots a distant iron gate marking the exit to the property. Gabriel finds her just as flying debris strikes her head. She wakes with multiple broken bones. Jenna covers for her, telling Linden that Rhine was simply caught outside when the storm hit. While Rhine recovers, Vaughn visits her alone and warns that Rose once tried to escape as a child, implying Rhine should not attempt the same. Rhine's young domestic, Deirdre, separately reveals that Rose's baby was not stillborn as everyone was told: Deirdre heard the baby cry, but Vaughn told the sedated Rose the infant was dead.

As Rhine heals, she discovers that some of the trees bordering the property are holograms concealing the road to the gate. Linden, encouraged by Jenna's advocacy, gives Rhine a key card granting access to the elevator and the ground floor, effectively making her first wife. He takes her to events in the city, where Rhine memorizes landmarks and lets cameras capture her distinctive heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one brown, hoping Rowan might see her on television. During this period, Rhine and Gabriel share a brief kiss, deepening their bond beyond friendship.

At a winter solstice party, Linden tells Rhine he loves her and kisses her. Afterward, he reveals that he believes all his brides came willingly from orphanages or bride schools. He has no idea the other girls in the van were killed. Rhine is stunned to realize Vaughn has fabricated an entire reality for his son.

Gabriel then disappears. The head cook tells Rhine that Vaughn summoned him to the basement. Jenna sets the sitting room curtains on fire as a distraction while Rhine puts in green contact lenses to disguise her eyes and descends to the basement. She finds Gabriel alive. He warns that Vaughn knows about their kiss and that he will be killed if they are caught together. Despite his fear, Rhine convinces him to escape with her. They plan for Gabriel to follow the path of a monthly dump truck through the hologram trees and wait at the iron gate.

Jenna then falls rapidly ill with the virus, deteriorating with alarming speed. Rhine suspects Vaughn accelerated her death. Rhine and Cecily refuse to leave Jenna's side, caring for her themselves. Jenna dies on January 1. Afterward, Cecily reveals she was the one who told Vaughn about Rhine's kiss with Gabriel and about Jenna helping Rhine see him. Rhine explodes, telling Cecily her betrayal gave Vaughn the excuse he needed to destroy Jenna.

On the night of the planned escape, Rhine says a quiet goodbye to Linden, offering him gentle advice about grieving Rose. She visits Jenna's stripped bedroom one last time, takes the lighter Jenna stole as a keepsake, and heads for the elevator. The head cook hands Rhine a thermos at the kitchen door with a knowing smile. Rhine treks through heavy snow, finds the hologram gap in the trees, and calls for Gabriel. He appears, and they run to the iron gate, which is locked. Rhine's key card does not work. Just as they face freezing, an attendant arrives with a key card, sent by Cecily. He opens the gate, and Rhine and Gabriel run through into the night.

They reach the city on foot and spend the night in a cinema, where they share their first unguarded kiss. At the harbor, Gabriel selects a small fishing boat, and they cast off before dawn. As Florida disappears behind them, Rhine reflects that she is finally free. A lighthouse beam sweeps over them, and Rhine does not know where the light will guide them next.