Among the Imposters

Thirty

The landing was barely a four-by-four square, flat and empty. But Luke walked around it again and again, as if he’d just missed noticing the phone and it was right there, in plain sight.

It wasn’t.

Luke looked on each stair below, and even the stairs above the landing — as if the phone could fly. It took forever for his stubborn brain to accept that the phone was missing. Then he sank down on one of the stair steps, puzzling out who might have taken it.

Did Jason have an accomplice?

Luke thought about all the hall monitors, all the boys who’d met in the woods. Now that Jason’s true nature had been revealed, Luke couldn’t be sure of anyone. Maybe they all worked for the Population Police.

Except for the four boys Jason had betrayed.

Luke was desperately confused, but he could figure out one thing: The missing phone meant those four were in more immediate danger.

And so was Luke.

Luke’s first instinct was to hide, to get the other four to hide with him. The woods wouldn’t be safe because Jason would lead the Population Police straight there. Was there a safe place in the kitchen? Somewhere in an unused classroom? Some dormitory room off by itself, and unlikely to be searched?

Hiding was no good. In the end, they’d only be found.

Luke had to do something to prevent the Population Police from ever searching. But he didn’t even understand what was going on. He had to find someone who knew more than Luke, who could lie better than Luke, who knew how to handle the Population Police.

Jen’s dad.

But how was Luke supposed to reach him?