Among the Betrayed

'The sun?' Nina wasn't sure she'd heard the question right. Then she wasn't sure she could answer it. She'd just been arrested by the Population Police, she'd been terrified out of her wits — who in their right mind would pay attention to the sun at a time like that? Then she remem' bered the splat of water on the car window beside her, the flow of drops on the glass. 'The sun wasn't even out,' she said triumphantly. 'It was raining.'

Percy and Matthias exchanged glances. Nina got an inkling that she shouldn't be feeling so triumphant.

'Why does it matter?' she asked.

'If we knew what side of the car the sun was on,' Matthias explained, 'we'd know which direction you were traveling. The sun is on the east side of the sky in the morning. If it was raining and the sun wasn't out, we don't know where you were coming from.'

'Oh,' Nina said. Though she couldn't see clearly enough, Nina had the distinct feeling that Matthias had spoken through gritted teeth.

It wasn't fair to expect Nina to know about the sun and the sky. She'd seen so little of either of them in her lifetime.

What made Percy and Matthias such experts?

'Can you think hard?' Percy was asking patiently. 'Was there any part of the sky that was brighter than the rest of the sky that morning?'

This was like Aunty Lystra's detective shows. The detec-tives were always saying things like, 'I know it's a strain, ma'am, but it's important for you to remember — are you sure you heard Mr. X leave his room before midnight?' But in Aunty Lystra's shows the witnesses were always sure of themselves: 'Oh, yes. I heard his door open just before the midnight train went through, just before the clock chimed.' Nina hadn't been looking at the sky when the Population Police brought her to prison. She'd been look' ing down, at the cuffs on her wrists, the chains on her ankles. But if she'd looked out long enough to see the rain…

'It was still dark when we left the school,' Nina said slowly. 'But then, I think… I think there was kind of a glow in the sky, through the rain, out my window.'

'Sunrise,' Matthias muttered.

'The sun rises?' Nina asked. She'd never thought about how it got up into the sky. In pictures and on TV it was just there, overhead.

Percy ignored her question and asked one of his own: 'Which side of the car were you on?'

'Left side. In the back,' Nina said.

'So the left side's east — you were going south,' Percy announced.

'If you say so,' Nina said.

'Her school's probably right off Route One,' Matthias said. 'North of the city. Do we dare walk alongside the road?'

'If we don't, we'll be lost for sure,' Percy said.

Nina noticed how they didn't even pretend to ask her opinion. At least both boys glanced quickly at Alia, long enough for her to nod her agreement.

Nina told herself she didn't care. She just hoped she was right about the direction of the sunrise.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The four of them trudged through the woods for hours. Nina got so tired that she stopped paying attention to where she was going, what the others said, or anything else. All that mattered was forcing herself to pick up one foot after the other, putting each foot down a little farther ahead of the other. She remembered how she'd told herself the other kids might slow her down — what a joke.

She was the slow one.

She was the one the others turned around and waited for, impatiently.

Finally Alia danced back to Nina and took her hand and said, 'You can sit down now. We're going to wait while while Percy and Matthias do something.'

Nina sank down to the ground and let her head flop back against a tree trunk. It felt better than any pillow.

'Do you want something to eat?' she said drowsily.

'Oh, yes!' Alia said. 'Can I?'

Nina untied the food bag from around her waist and opened it toward the little girl.

'Take whatever you want,' Nina said.

'I think — just something small,' Alia decided. 'Until the boys come back. They'll know how to make the food stretch out.'

Nina didn't even bother staying awake to see what Alia chose. The next thing she knew, Alia was gently sliding an orange slice into Nina's mouth.

'This will give you energy,' Alia said.

Nina chewed and swallowed. She hadn't had oranges much. This one was sweet and juicy. And one slice wasn't nearly enough. All it did was remind Nina how ravenous she was. She pawed through the food bag and pulled out a box of cereal. She ripped off the top and began pouring it into her mouth. She'd never gobbled anything down so quickly before in her life.

'It's your food, not ours,' Alia said. 'But shouldn't you save some to make sure we have enough for our trip?'

In the dark Nina hadn't even realized that Alia could see what she was doing. Nina blushed and stopped chew^ ing. She'd been eating so greedily that some of the cereal flakes had bounced off her face and fallen to the ground, ruined.

'Did Percy and Matthias say you were my boss while they were gone?' Nina grumbled.

'No,' Alia said.

Nina began picking cereal out of the box, one flake at a time, and carefully placing each flake on her tongue.

'Where are they, anyway?'

'Um, they can tell you when they get back,' Alia said uncertainly.

This was maddening. Nina felt like throwing the whole box of cereal at the little girl. But just then she saw a glim' mer of light bobbing through the woods. Coming toward them.

'Alia, look!' Nina whispered. 'It's the Population Police. They're following our trail! We've got to run. . ' She jumped up, only barely managing not to spill the rest of the cereal.

'Nina, relax. It's Percy and Matthias,' Alia answered.

'How do you know?'

'That's our signal. The way the light jumps.'

Nina looked again, and it did seem like the light was bobbing in a particular pattern: twice to the right, once to the left. Then twice to the right, once to the left again.

'Where'd they get a flashlight?' Nina asked.

Alia didn't answer.

A few minutes later the light went out. A twig crackled behind Nina and she stiffened, but it was only Percy and Matthias, sneaking closer.

'Safe?' Alia asked.

'Yep,' Percy said.

'Where were you? Where'd you get the flashlight?' Nina asked.

'We found it. Wasn't that lucky?' Matthias said.

Nina noticed he had answered only one of her ques-tions. And she didn't entirely believe that answer. Flashlights were valuable, especially if they had batteries. She'd never even seen one until she went away to school.

Who would leave a flashlight just lying around out in the woods?

'Nina offered us food,' Alia said.

Nina fought down her irritation. She hadn't offered them food — she'd shared it