Luke didn’t have to ask what They meant. Sometimes it seemed like everyone at Hendricks School was just holding his breath, waiting. Waiting for a day when none of the boys would be illegal anymore, when they could all reclaim their rightful names, when they could go back to their rightful families without fear that the Population Police would catch them. But both Luke and They knew that that day wouldn’t come easily And Luke, at least, had promised to do everything he could to bring it about.

His stomach churned. The fear he thought he’d outgrown reached him at last.

“Did he say. did Mr. Hendricks say…,“ he stammered. What if Mr. Hendricks had a plan for Luke to help with? What if that plan required more courage than Luke had?

They went back to looking down at the polished tile floor.

“Mr. Hendricks didn’t say anything except, ‘Go get your buddy L out of math class and tell him to come see me,’~~ They said.

“Oh,” Luke said.

They reached the end of the hall, and Luke pushed open the heavy wood door to the outside. Trey winced, as he always did anytime he was exposed to sunshine, fresh air, or anything else outdoors. But Luke breathed in gratefully. Luke had spent his first twelve years on his family’s farm; some of his fondest memories involved the feeling of warm dirt on his bare feet, sunshine on the back of his neck, a hoe in his hand — and his parents and brothers around him.

But it didn’t do to think much about his parents and brothers anymore. When he’d accepted his fake identity, he’d had to leave them and the farm behind. And even when he’d been with them, he’d had to live like a shadow or a ghost, something no one else outside the family knew about.

Once when his middle brother, Mark, was in first grade, he’d accidentally slipped and mentioned Luke’s name at school.