Among the Free

the lights were off. But there was enough light coming in through the doorway for Luke to see how this room had been transformed since the last time he'd been in it. The mahogany desk that had once dominated the entire space had been pushed to the back to make way for dozens of posters and signs stacked against the walls. One of the signs nearest Luke depicted a baby with the number three emblazoned on his chest. Luke moved the sign a little so he could see the words written below: he's the reason YOU WERE STARVING.

Luke turned away from this sign, and his gaze fell on another one depicting sullen figures with the words beware the shadows. Another simply showed a woman and a man with two children playing at their feet and a third peeking out from behind the woman. The whole scene was stamped with a huge caption: the worst criminals of all. Another sign, featuring a similar family, carried the words their fault.

Luke sank weakly back against the wall and covered his eyes with his hands. He shook his head and moaned, 'No, no. .'

Luke remembered Jen telling him about signs like these. Propaganda, she'd called them. Lies the Government had made its citizens believe. She'd said there were signs about illegal third children posted at train stations and on billboards, in all sorts of public places. At the time, Luke had never been off his family's farm: He'd never seen a train station or a billboard; he couldn't imagine a public place. He hadn't even quite understood what a sign was. Since then he'd traveled between a very small number of places: his home, Hendricks School, the Grants' house, the Population Police holding camp, Chiutza. A small, tight circle of places, each trip taken at a time of shock and hor-ror. He'd had no time to sightsee. He could have passed a million signs and not known it, because he'd always been too engrossed in the turmoil inside his own head. So he'd never felt the waves of hate that radiated from signs like these — hate that was directed at him.

No wonder he didn't feel capable of standing up again, of stalking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

These are old, he told himself. This is just where the Population Police stored their signs when they were in control. But they're not in control anymore. They're out of power. These signs shouldn't have any power over me, either.

Still he stayed slumped over in despair, surrounded by the signs' stark accusations, lost in his own fears.

Luke didn't know how long he sat there — maybe minutes, maybe hours. Even when he heard footsteps approaching the room, he didn't move.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Then he heard someone swearing and screaming out, 'What is the meaning of this?' he voice was coming from outside the room. Before he'd even quite registered the words, Luke's reflexes took over.

Hide! Hide! Hide! screamed in his brain, like an alarm system set at high alert. He thought about squeezing behind the mahogany desk, but it was in full sight of the door the angry person was about to walk through. Luke scurried to the darkest part of the room and weaseled his way in behind some of the signs leaning against the wall. The sign nearest him quivered and he got a horrifying vision in his mind: What if he knocked all the signs over and they crashed to the ground? He'd be discovered for sure. He reached up and steadied the sign, then yanked his hand down as bright light filled the entire room. Even from behind the thick layer of signs, Luke could see the shadow of dark shoes stomping into the room.

'Get me Melton,' the voice was growling now.

The door slammed, and Luke jumped, his shock amplified because he knew the voice: It was Oscar's. Luke had heard that tone of cold anger many times.

'The point of putting the signs in here was that it was a secure, locked room,' Oscar screamed. 'That doesn't do any good if you leave the door hanging open!'

Oscar had to be speaking into a phone or a walkie-talkie, Luke thought, because only one set of footsteps had come into the room. Luke burrowed back tighter against the wall. There was no way he wanted Oscar to discover him now, not when Oscar was so furious.

The person Oscar was talking to must have protested, because Oscar was silent for a few seconds and then burst out, 'Well, it was wide open when I got here!' Oscar seemed to be pacing, and when he got close to Luke's hiding place, Luke could hear bits and pieces of the other side of the conversation: '. . key didn't work so I had to… really I did shut… nothing was disturbed, was it? And…'

'No, no,' Oscar said, sounding a little calmer. 'Nothing's out of place, as far as I can tell, and nobody was in any of the surrounding rooms… I guess you're right; that's all anyone would think. And it looks like the security system is still working. Let's test the soundproof features, and then proceed with our plans if that's not broken. Who knows, maybe I can use this. Another bargaining tactic, you know?'

Oscar hung but kept pacing. Luke lay frozen behind the signs, his thoughts a panicky loop.

He'll find me. He'll get mad again. He'll blame me for the open door. He'll find me. .

But then Oscar moved away from Luke's hiding place and didn't come back. Luke heard the click of the door opening again, and more footsteps.

'Okay, we'll try it now. I can replace the lock later,' another voice — Melton's? — said. 'We won't have to move anything.'

Luke could hear switches being flipped on and off, the door being opened and shut, Melton and Oscar walking in and out of the room, one of them murmuring, 'Testing, testing, testing.' Then Melton said, 'You're good to go. Shall I bring him down?'

'Yeah. Sounds good. I'm just… I'll be ready.' Did Oscar sound nervous? Luke wasn't sure what to make of that. In Luke's experience, Oscar never sounded nervous.

Luke's legs were going numb from being in the same position for so long. He dared to shift them ever so slightly, without rattling the propped^up signs. Now he had pins and needles pricking up and down his legs. But there was nothing he could do about that except wince and bite his lip and stay silent.

Luke heard more footsteps, but they stumbled, and there was an extra sound thrown in. The footsteps got closer — two pairs, Luke thought. And then they were close enough that Luke could recognize the extra sound: chains. Chains clanking and rattling and dragging on the floor.

Luke heard the door shut. The chains rattled and the chairs creaked as people sat down.

'I demand to be treated with more respect!' a haughty voice announced. 'I am the supreme leader of the Population Police, I am in control of the entire country—'

'Not anymore.' Oscar's voice, with a chuckle. 'If you'll notice, you're sitting there in handcuffs and leg irons, and I am the one in charge.'

'This is an indignity! This will not stand! Thousands of people are loyal to me — they'll come and rescue me; they'll restore me to my rightful position. And then you'll be—'

'They can't rescue you if they don't know where you are,' Oscar said, his voice still light and amused. 'And have you forgotten? Thousands of people hate you too. Thousands would love to kill you, to pay you back for everything you and your Population Police have done to them. A lot of those people are out on the front lawn cele^ brating right now. Want me to take you out to them? Want me to just yell out a window, 'Hey everybody, Aldous Krakenaur's right here. Anybody feel like visiting?''

Oscar was standing up, probably walking toward the door. Luke wondered if this was what Oscar had meant by holding a trial, judging the Population Police by basic human standards. Maybe he was going to let the crowd in, let them decide what Aldous Krakenaur deserved.

Luke heard the clank of chains.

'Please, I beg of you—'

Luke couldn't see what was happening, but he thought maybe Aldous Krakenaur had grabbed Oscar's hand to stop him. It was hard to hear over the rattling chains, and Krakenaur seemed to be whispering now. Luke heard the word 'negotiate.' He heard 'negotiations' and 'my loyal followers' and 'loyal to you.' But as hard as he listened, he couldn't make out a full sentence, a full thought.

'Well, yes, I suppose that could be arranged,' Oscar said airily, as if he really didn't care. 'With the code we