The Town That Drowned
Ruby is the main character of this novel and the story is told entirely from her point of view. She is a 14‑year-old girl. Near the beginning of the book she has a vision of some of the townspeople swimming around her and one person happens to be someone she had never seen before. Ruby gets bullied at school (mainly by June Crouse) as a result of this incident. To make things worse, she has a unique brother who is seen as a freak by others. She receives suspicion after the townspeople learn that her house would be saved from being flooded (Later on, it is revealed that Ruby had to move anyway since the water went further than expected). Her best friend and cousin is Sarah Carson who was always there for Ruby. However, in that year, Sarah moved to another town and leaving Ruby to face her troubles on her own. Later on in the story Ruby falls in love with Troy Rutherford, who happens to be her first love.
The Darkest Minds
Ruby Daly celebrates her tenth birthday with her family, where her father gives her a keychain. Seeing her parents' concern about the disease, Ruby goes to comfort her parents in the night, touching their hands, and inadvertently erasing all their memories with Ruby. In the morning, her mother locks Ruby in the garage; having no recollection of her, she sends Ruby to an internment camp, where Ruby is determined to be an Orange, the most dangerous class where they have the abilities to control other people's minds and memories. Ruby uses her abilities to convince her supervisor that she is a Green, the least dangerous one with extremely high intelligence.