Among the Free

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nobody stood on the other side. Luke glanced around once, then opened the nearest window and slipped out, pulling the window shut behind him. Standing safely on the ground, hidden by a row of tall bushes, Luke began to feel foolish. If nobody was guarding the unlocked room, nobody would have cared that he'd been in there. He could have walked out the front door of the building and nobody would have even noticed.

Luke fought his way out through the screen of bushes, emerging into sunlight and the same carefree, party atmosphere he'd seen the night before. People were dancing and singing again: "No more Poppies… all the food we want…" The crowd had evidently made up new words to the theme song since the last time Luke had heard it.

Nothing about the scene around him gave off even the slightest hint of danger or intrigue, but Luke's heart was still beating hard.

Oscar definitely seemed upset that the door to the secret room didn't lock, Luke reminded himself.

Stubbornly, Luke circled around to the back of the building again. A girl carrying a plate of biscuits opened the door for him.

"Want one? We've got plenty to share," she told him, grinning.

"No, thanks. Not now," he muttered. He walked on through the dining room, where a huge crowd was singing as they crammed food into their mouths:

From the other side of the dining room, Luke tried to retrace his steps through the maze of hallways, trying to follow the same path he'd used before to reach the secret room. Once again, the hallways and the rooms he passed were deserted.

See? he told himself. You just overreacted after seeing those signs. Oscar was only worried about the lock because he wanted to have a private meeting with Aldous Krakenaur. And he had to meet with him because. . because Krakenaur knows things that Oscar needs. Like information about where all the food is stored.

Luke rounded the last corner before the hallway that led to the secret room. And then he stopped.

A man was leaning casually against the wall, turning the pages of a newspaper.

"Oh, hey, I wouldn't go that way if I were you," he said, straightening up a little. "They found some 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.