Among the Free

dangerous chemicals the Population Police left behind in one of those rooms back there.' He tilted his head, indicating the direction of the secret room. 'The new government's trying to clear it out but' — he shrugged—'you know. Better safe than sorry.'

'Oh,' Luke said. He hesitated. He was pretty sure the dangerous-chemicals story was a lie, and he wanted to keep going. But the man had his legs stretched out, blocking the hallway. Luke would have to actively shove past him. The man's stance seemed casual, but Luke suspected that his muscles were tensed, and that he was ready to push Luke back if Luke persisted.

'They asked me to warn people if anyone came by,' the man said, shrugging again. 'I figured it was the least I could do, given how much food I've eaten since I got here. You want some? I think someone was frying up doughnuts last time I walked through the kitchen. They ought to be done by now.' He pointed off in the direction Luke had just come from. 'Just go down that way, turn right, then left…'

'Yeah, thanks. Doughnuts sound good,' Luke said, retreating. He looked back over his shoulder, and the man was still watching him. 'I was really just trying to find the kitchen, but I got a little, um, lost.'

He picked up speed, navigating the maze of hallways as if someone were chasing him. Or as if he were trying to run away from his own thoughts.

Those caught up with him.

Dangerous chemicals? Yeah, right, he fumed to himself. That guy was guarding the secret room. He was just doing it from a safe distance so even he couldn't see what he was guarding. There was probably a guard stationed at the front door, too.

But why are they guarding all those old signs? Are those sup^ posed to be evidence for the trial, too?

And when Oscar met with Krakenaur, what were they saying about having negotiations and using a code? Why did it seem like Oscar was.. bargaining?

Luke was passing through the dining hall again. He barely noticed when someone stuck a doughnut in his hand. He barely heard the song crescendoing through the room: 'NO MORE POPPIES! ALL THE FOOD WE WANT!'

He stumbled out the back door, back out into the sun-light. To avoid drawing attention to himself, he went and sat down with the huge crowd forming near the wall, where Philip Twinings and Simone and Tucker were up on a stage, interviewing more people.

I don't know anything about how governments are supposed to work, Luke told himself. Maybe that's just how things go when governments change — the new leader meets with the old leader, so they can work out lots of details. He'd liked it when Oscar had been mean to Krakenaur, when he'd said, 'If you'll notice, you're sitting there in handcuffs and leg irons, and I am the one in charge.' He liked thinking about how Krakenaur was chained up now, hiding in an attic the same way Luke had had to hide from the Population Police.

Luke tried to remember how he'd thought and felt all those years he'd spent in hiding, when he'd known nobody but his parents and his two brothers — all those years before he met Jen and she changed his entire world. He'd felt powerless. Somehow he'd even understood that his parents were powerless too.

Krakenaur didn't act like he thought he was powerless, Luke thought. He acted like he still thought he should he in charge.

The rest of the thought came slowly. Just as Luke didn't trust himself to interpret people's expressions and body language, he had trouble reading between the lines of what people said and how they said it. He kept replaying the conversation between Oscar and Krakenaur in his head. Had Oscar sounded a little bit hesitant, a little bit awed, even as he threatened Krakenaur? Had Oscar been trying too hard to sound casual and unconcerned? Why had Oscar allowed Krakenaur to make suggestions, to bargain for his life?

Luke thought about all the times in his life he'd been bullied or beaten up: by his brothers, by other boys when he first arrived at Hendricks School, by the Population Police when he was in their holding camp. None of them had offered to bargain with him. They'd just punched him, kicked him, bossed him around.

As long as I was powerless, that is. As long as I wasn't threatening to tattle on Matthew and Mark, to bring in Mother and Dad. As long as the boys at school didn't need me to keep their secrets. As long as the Population Police didn't know I could escape.

Now, sitting in a crowd of very happy people celebrating the end of the Population Police, Luke felt a horrid certainty creep over him.

Aldous Krakenaur isn't powerless. He still has some control.

Over Oscar.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Luke turned to the people sitting around him. He wanted to tell them, Listen — we're in big trouble. But everyone else was clapping and cheering.

'We're back now, broadcasting live from the former Population Police headquarters,' Philip Twinings was saying up on the stage. 'We're ready to begin our accounting of the Population Police era. We'll be broadcasting as long as people are willing to talk.'

The crowd cheered again.

They're doing what Oscar suggested, Luke thought, still horrified.

But what could be wrong with people telling their stories? What evidence did Luke have that Oscar was under Aldous Krakenaur's control? What could Luke do about it, anyhow? Who would listen to him?

Luke sat, paralyzed, letting the voices from the stage wash over him. A man talked about how the Population Police had refused to replace his grain when he accidentally spilled it. A girl talked about how the Population Police had confiscated the strawberries she grew in her own backyard. A woman talked about how much she missed her husband when he enlisted in the Population Police to earn food for his family. Luke started to relax a little.

This is just people telling how awful the Population Police were, he thought. This won't bring them back into power. Maybe I'm wrong about everything. Maybe I misunderstood what Oscar and Krakenaur meant.

He kept listening, the stories as soothing as a balm. The worse the horrors the speakers described, the better Luke felt.

Nobody would want the Population Police back in power after hearing this, Luke thought again and again, during tales of beatings, maimings, cruelty, contempt.

One boy painstakingly hobbled up to the stage, almost losing his balance. The crowd grew silent as they watched him slowly mount the steps, his upper body supported by crutches, his legs twisted and practically useless.

'The Population Police did this to me,' he said into the microphone Philip Twinings held out to him. His eyes, caught in the bright light from the camera, were wide and terrified. He seemed to be having trouble breathing. 'I joined up because my family was starving. They assigned me to shovel manure. I thought I was being. . helpful. I suggested a better way to shovel, and they. . they attacked me. I almost died. I would have died… if the rebels hadn't found me… if they hadn't fed me and nursed me. You can. . look at me and see. . what the Population Police did to our country.'

He moved away from the microphone and began his slow descent down the stairs.

He worked for the Population Police shoveling manure? Luke thought. He was in the stables, then. That's the boy I always won-' dered about, the one who asked for a bigger shovel. The one who disappeared. This is what happened to him.

Luke watched the boy leaning down, lowering first his crutches, then the weight of his whole body, from one step to another. He seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if he didn't quite trust the crutches or his legs to hold him up.

He would be an ally, Luke thought. He was in the stables with me. He knows what the Population Police are capable of. I could tell him about Oscar and Krakenaur.

Luke stood up and began fighting his way through the crowd, toward the stage. The mood of the crowd