Margaret Haddix: Among the Imposters

“But someone knows,” he insisted. “There has to be someone who oversees it all.”

Mr. Hendricks shifted in his wheelchair.

“Oh, yes. I have my compatriots. Mr. Dirk, as you probably suspect, has been useful upon occasion, although his knowledge is limited. I will tell you no other names.”

Luke should have felt relieved to finally get an explanation. For that matter, he should have been ecstatic to have an adult at Hendricks acknowledge his existence. But all he could think about, suddenly was how lonely and isolated he’d felt his first few weeks at Hendricks, how invisible. How low he’d sunk, that he’d almost looked forward to Jason picking on him each evening. He felt a surge of anger.

“You think you’re so great,” he said before he could stop himself “Don’t you know how it feels to be an exnay? And then you just abandon us, among people who don’t care. Or can’t care. It’s a wonder we don’t all run back into hiding.”

“Oh, no,” Mr. Hendricks said, seeming totally unruffled by Luke’s outburst. “You were never abandoned. I can assume you have never been deep-sea diving, correct?”

Luke shook his head, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes as well.

“But you understand the concept?” Mr. Hendricks didn’t wait for a reply “When a diver resurfaces, he has to go gradually so his body can get accustomed to the change in pressure. Children coming out of hiding need that, too. They need places to adjust to the outside world. Somewhere that their extreme fear of the outdoors does not seem out of place. Somewhere that they can act antisocial and not stand out Somewhere — well, like Hendricks. And then when they’re ready they move on.”

“You mean — leave?” Luke asked, his voice squeaking in spite of himself

“Yes,” Mr. Talbot said. ‘And Mr. Hendricks and I agree:

The events of the past twenty-four hours prove that your time has come. You’re ready to go.”

“Huh?” Luke said. He had not anticipated that turn in the conversation at all.

Mr. Hendricks leaned forward.

“My schools had never been infiltrated before,” he said, with a sharp glance at Mr. Talbot.

Mr. Talbot frowned apologetically

“The Population Police have always pretended that it’s impossible for an illegal child to get a fake I.D.,” Mr. Talbot added. “But after the rally—” His eyes clouded. Luke could see the effort he was making to continue without emotion. ‘After the rally, all the rules changed.”

“So you see, we never expected betrayal,” Mr. Hendricks said. “In the beginning yes, we tiptoed and looked over our shoulders. And, fortunately we kept habits of… strong security. But we were not prepared for the Population Police to plant impostors in our midst, to gather names, to encourage indiscretion.”

Luke frowned.

“But Jason — he said there’d been raids before. He said—” Mr. Talbot had a sarcastic smile on his face. Mr. Hendricks raised one eyebrow.

“My dear boy,” Mr. Hendricks said. “He lied.”

Luke grimaced. He didn’t like them acting like he couldn’t figure that out on his own. But he’d learned a lot from Jason. What was true and what was false? He remembered one of Jason’s other explanations: You can’t be too nice to an exnay … exnays need the kind of friend who can toughen them up. Like I did for you. Luke remembered how many times Jason had made him claim to be an idiot, do push-ups until his arms collapsed, make a total fool of himself. Jason hadn’t been trying to toughen Luke up. He’d been trying to break him down.

But it hadn’t worked.

Luke didn’t know why. He felt breathless, thinking about what could have happened. Suddenly he was mad at Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Talbot, sitting there looking so condescending.

“Why didn’t you know Jason was an impostor?” Luke said. “You should have. He acted so different from everyone else.”

“Yes, and so did you,” Mr. Hendricks replied quickly. “Should we have suspected you of working for the Population Police, just because you liked going outside?”

Luke blinked.

“Yes, we knew,” Mr. Hendricks said. “Just as we knew Jason, as you call him, was forming a club of former hidden children. We’d never seen that happen before, and frankly, we viewed it as a positive development Until you showed us the truth.”

Luke remembered how frustrated and frightened and alone he’d felt, only the night before.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “I tried, but nothing worked. Mr. Talbot deserves all the credit.”

“You stopped the infiltrator and knocked him out Then you took him to the nurse who, under the school’s protocol, had to alert me,” Mr. Hendricks said. “She thought he was just another former hidden child, going through some very unusual trauma. But when he muttered, “my phone, my phone”—she got suspicious. We locked all the doors and made a search of the entire school building.”

So that’s what Jason had muttered to the nurse, Luke thought. He was kind of glad now that he hadn’t heard. He had felt panicked enough, as it was.

“Once we confiscated his phone,” Mr. Hendricks continued, “we found out that the last number he called was the Population Police. Meanwhile, your call made George here suspicious—”

“Without spilling everything for the bugs on my phone, thank you very much,” Mr. Talbot said. “Because of your warning, I had time to double-cross the Population Police’s efforts. So we arrested two traitors, instead of six former hidden children. A good trade, in my mind.”

Luke felt dizzy. No matter how many explanations Mr. Talbot and Mr. Hendricks gave him, other questions sprang up in his mind like so many weeds. Both men were watching him.

“Nina,” Luke said finally “Nina was the other traitor.”

“Yes,” Mr. Talbot said.

Luke thought about how, just for a second, he’d mistaken Nina for Jen that first night out in the woods. He’d wanted to like Nina so badly. He’d liked the way she’d laughed. But she’d been a traitor, too.

“What will happen to them?” Luke asked. “Jason and Nina, I mean.”

Mr. Talbot looked away.

“Sometimes it’s better not to know,” he murmured.

That meant they were going to be killed, Luke thought. Killed or tortured to death, which was even worse. He shivered. Was it his fault? Was there some way he could have saved the other exnays without destroying Jason and Nina? No — they were the ones who had chosen betrayal.

“This is a cruel business,” Mr. Talbot said. “Don’t dwell on it.”

In a corner of the room, an old-fashioned clock ticked quietly. Luke gathered his thoughts for his next question.

“But why did the Population Police believe you instead of Jason? If he’d wanted to, that officer could have arrested us all,” Luke said. He remembered how careful Mr. Talbot had had to be, ever since the rally, for fear that someone might connect him with Jen. “I thought you were out of favor at Population Police headquarters right now. No offense, of course,” he added quickly.

Mr. Talbot shrugged, as though being out of favor was as insignificant as a mosquito bite.

“I had the evidence on my side,” he said. “They like evidence. And I have to say, it was a stroke of brilliance to computer-enhance that Christmas picture, to substitute your face over· Jen’s.” He kept his voice even, saying Jen’s name, but Luke noticed that Mr. Hendricks bowed his head, reverently, as though giving in to a moment of silent mourning. Had Mr. Hendricks ever even met Jen? Luke didn’t know, but he found himself lowering his head as well.

“Jen would have liked that,” Luke said. “Using her picture to fool the Population Police.” He swallowed what might have been a giggle. Jen would have been very amused.