Among the Impostors by Haddix Margaret Peterson

Author:Haddix, Margaret Peterson [Haddix, Margaret Peterson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Adventure
ISBN: 9780689848087
Amazon: 0689848080
Goodreads: 6992497
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 2001-06-01T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Luke could hear someone crashing through the woods behind him, but he didn’t look back. He’d run into the darkest part of the woods, and it took all his concentration to dodge the tree limbs that seemed to reach down out of nowhere. In fact, if Luke really wanted to terrify himself, he could think of those tree limbs as witches’ arms, ghouls’ fingers. He wasn’t used to running through woods at night. Back home, when he’d gone outside after dark, it had mostly been for catching lightning bugs in the backyard, playing moonlight kick ball with his brothers—innocent fun.

He’d been so young, back then, back home.

He forced himself to run faster, but whoever was behind him seemed to be catching up. Luke zigzagged, because he’d read once that that was how rabbits escaped their predators. Then he slammed into a tree. He screamed in pain, and reeled backwards.

A dark shape pounced. Before he knew it, Luke was pinned to the ground.

Luke remembered another time he’d been tackled: the first time he’d crept into Jen’s house. He made a noise, and the next thing he knew, she had him facedown in the carpet. And they’d become friends.

This wasn’t Jen.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a voice hissed in his ear. Jackal boy’s. “You go back now, during Indoctrination, and they’ll catch you. They’ll know. And then they’ll come looking for the rest of us.”

Indoctrination? Luke guessed that jackal boy meant the evening lecture. The name made sense—the lecture was always about how wonderful the Government was. But Luke hadn’t even thought about what he was running toward. He was just running away.

“Who will catch me?” he asked. “The only ones who watch are the hall monitors. And they all report to you, right?”

“You got it,” jackal boy said. He sounded pleased. “I worked hard setting up that system. The teachers didn’t like hall duty, anyway. And now—”

“You can get away with anything, can’t you?” Luke asked. “Unless I tell.”

He didn’t know what possessed him to make that threat. Maybe it was just habit—after twelve years of being the youngest brother, he knew the power of tattling.

And he knew how easily it could backfire.

“Make you a deal,” Luke said quickly. “Let me up, and I won’t go back now. Answer some questions for me, and I won’t tell. I’ll keep your secrets.”

Jackal boy seemed to be considering. Finally, he said, “Okay.”

Luke scrambled up and pulled away. He rubbed the side of his face. He wasn’t sure if it was sore from hitting the tree or from being slammed against the ground. His hand came away wet.

“I’m bleeding,” he said accusingly.

“You’ll have to hide it,” jackal boy said. “Are you good at hiding?”

Luke shrugged away the question. He knew jackal boy was really asking something else. But Luke wasn’t ready to answer.

“What’s your name, anyway?” Luke asked.

“Which one?” jackal boy asked. “If you look at the school records, I’m Scott Renault. Out here, I’m Jason.”

“One of those names is fake,” Luke said.

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