East River

**East River** was a save haven for the psi people founded by Clancy Gray in an abandoned campsite at Lake Prince, Virginia. It was the largest psi-only settlement ever known, home to hundreds of residents.

### Pre-series

Clancy Gray, better known as the "Slip Kid", founded East River at an abandoned campground called Chesapeake Trails as a refuge for the psi people shortly after his escape from his father, President Gray, about two years prior to the events of *The Darkest Minds*. He, along with Hayes and Olivia, were able to work on its reconstruction without being sought for because the President didn't want the public to know that Clancy's supposed rehabilitation was a failure. Clancy would let any kid stay at the camp so long as they helped around the camp for a short while. He would also spread the word around so kids could find the camp. It even managed to get inside government controlled camps.

### *The Darkest Minds*

After two years of building, East River had become was fairly large. It consisted of a small wooden dock, some buildings, and at least eighteen log cabins with green doors. There was a permanent white building, once both an office and shop, that later served as a store room and Clancy Gray's office. Additionally, there was a kitchen building, garden, and a bonfire area. The only computer in the entire camp was Clancy's personal one, which he would use to track down people's families and keep track with people he controlled.

East River didn't seem to discriminate about which color was allowed in the camp, since there were plenty of yellow's, green's and blue's were running around. It seems that there were only two known orange's in the camp, Ruby and Clancy, and no mentioned reds.

East River functioned by employing the older kids in jobs such as gardening, cooking, managing supplies, guarding, or performing supply hits on semi trucks or other vehicles. Kids under 13 years old, called Cubbies, would spend most of their time receiving an education in one of the cabins and training on how to use their abilities. While the extremely positive atmosphere at East River was attributed to teamwork and good leadership, it was partially influenced by Clancy, who used his orange powers to create a sense of admiration towards him, allowing him to manipulate the kids into doing almost anything.

If residents at East River wanted to leave, they would have to organize themselves into a tribe and apply for permission from Clancy. They were not allowed, in any circumstance, to tell anyone the location of East River. However, they were allowed to give a hint to kids they they met: "Edo". This translates to the number of a radio station: 540 AM. This channel was broadcast all across the East Coast, and its frequency can only be heard by a Psi. The station automatically repeats the same sentences:

> *"If you can hear this, you're one of us. If you're one of us, you can find us. Lake Prince. Virginia."*
>
>

Eventually, Clancy attempted to bait his father into sending the reds from Project Jamboree to East River by revealing its location. He expected to be able to manipulate the reds into working against his father, but the President did not dispatch them. This marked the end of East River's legacy, and many of the kids living there were shot or captured.