Trey ran as silently as possible, but Mark saw him. And positively beamed.
Then he had to erase the smile from his face. Footsteps were coming down the stairs toward them. They ducked behind the boxes. A small gap between them gave him a narrow view of Mark’s cage. Trey saw a Population Police officer striding toward Mark. The chest of the officer’s uniform was completely covered with medals. Trey had a feeling that this guy ranked a lot higher than the guard.
“Explain why you were trying to sneak into our headquarters,” the officer snapped at Mark.
“We-ell, see, I didn’t actually know it was your headquarters,” Mark said, drawing out his words to make himself sound slow and stupid. “And I weren’t trying to sneak in.”
Mark sounded so dumb and innocent, Trey had to smile. Who would have guessed Mark would be such a great actor?
“I was just out in the woods looking for food when I seen the fence,” Mark continued. “I didn’t know nothing about this place ‘cept it belonged to somebody rich. Wouldn’t have even come near the fence, ‘cepting that this squirrel, see, he run right under the barbed wire. And I was chasing him so hard, I didn’t never think about it being a problem, me stepping past that fence. I wasn’t hurting nothing. And then — zap! That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up here. So how about it? How about setting me free so I can go get that squirrel?”
The Population Police officer snorted.
“Hunting is a violation of numerous governmental codes. Do you realize you’ve just confessed to a serious crime?”
Mark hung his head.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “Now I do. But it weren’t like I had a gun or nothing — just a bow and arrow. And I was awful hungry.”
“Didn’t you know the Population Police offered food to anyone who joined up — them and their families?” the officer asked.
“No, sir,” Mark said. “Ain’t never heard that. Can I still do it? Where do I go to join up? I’d be a good employee. And it’d just be me you’d have to feed — my main and pap passed on near about five year ago, and I ain’t got no brother or sister or other kin at all.”
The officer regarded Mark in silence. Then he asked, "What happened to your bow and arrow?”
Mark blinked at him.
“Well, shoot,” he said. “I don’t know. Reckon I must have dropped it when that fence zapped me.” His face brightened. “Hey, I know. You go find my bow and arrow. Then you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”
The officer narrowed his eyes, as if suspecting a trap. Then he seemed to decide that Mark wasn’t smart enough to try a trap.
“I’m not about to go traipsing out there in the woods looking for your illegal weapons,” the officer said indignantly “But — I’ll send one of my men after it Then maybe we’ll just see what to do about you.”
And he turned on his heel and walked away.
Trey stayed hidden until he was sure the officer had climbed the stairs again. Then he poked his head out.
“Wow, Mark, how’d you know he’d fall for that?” Trey whispered.
“It was written all over his face, that he was dying to go order someone around. And that he thought I was dumber than pond slime. I thought about what you’d said about grammar, and I turned it around — I was saying ‘ain’t’ on purpose, you know.”
“I know,” Trey said.
“So I bought us some time, but I don’t know how much. I can always say somebody must have stolen the bow and arrow if he comes back soon. But I hope it don’t come to that — how about getting me out of here now?”
“Okay, okay,” Trey muttered. He slipped out from behind the boxes. Squinting in the glare — and terrified of being so exposed — They felt around for some sort of latch to release the door of the cage.
But the cage didn’t have a latch. It was fastened with a thick lock
“Mark — I’d need a key—,” Trey sputtered.
“No you don’t,” Mark said soothingly. “Just some pliers or wire cutters — even a piece of bent wire to pick the lock”
“Where am I supposed to get that?” Trey asked.
“This is a basement, isn’t it? Look around!”
Trey retreated to his boxes, figuring he could at least stay partially hidden while he looked there. The first box held table linens. The one beside it held china wrapped in layers and layers of thin crinkly paper.
“Trey?” Mark whispered. “Thanks for coming to get me. I never in a million years thought you’d be so brave. I thought I was on my own.”
“I haven’t saved you yet,” Trey said through gritted teeth. He was on the third box, which held more tablecloths.
“How’d you get down here?” Mark asked.
Quickly, talking as he searched, Trey told him. Mark gave a soft, admiring whistle.
“You joined the Population Police?” he asked. “You crawled through heat ducts past Aldous Krakenaur? I had you figured all wrong. You’re the bravest kid I know!”
Trey didn’t have time to get puffed up with pride. He was on the last box in the stack. This one was full of fancy crystal vases.
Panic-stricken, he looked around. Were there boxes in some other part of the basement? Wouldn’t the Grants have had something useful down here?
But the boxes and Mark’s cage were the only things in the entire basement.
Trey fought to hide his fear from Mark. He tugged on the lock as if he thought he could break it with his bare hands. Mark saw.
“Oh,” Mark said, and turned his face away “Maybe—,” Trey said, but he didn’t have a plan to suggest.
Just then they heard footsteps on the stairs again. Trey dove behind the boxes once more, just before the Population Police official burst around the corner.
“You were not hungry,” the official snarled at Mark “How do you explain this?”
He held something out to Mark. Trey couldn’t tell what it was at first, but when he shifted his position and saw what was dangling from the official’s hand, it was all he could do not to gasp.
The official was holding the knapsack Mark had carried from the truck. It was the knapsack Mark had put down right before he’d tried to crawl through the barbed-wire fence, the knapsack Trey had kicked away in disgust.
The knapsack full of food.
“What do you mean, ‘How do you explain this?’” Mark asked. “I’ve never seen that before in my life. What is it?”
But his voice shook, and he’d waited a second too long in answering. It was all too clear that he had seen that knapsack before. That it belonged to him.
The official slowly loosened the knapsack’s strings and began pulling out its contents. A box of raisins. A bag of peanuts. An apple. Two apples. Three. Potatoes. Bananas. Peaches. Cereal.
“I’ll ask you again,” the official said. “Why were you trying to sneak into Population Police headquarters?”
“I wasn’t,” Mark said. But his voice was even weaker now. The most gullible fool in the world wouldn’t have believed him.
“You were,” the official said calmly. He seemed to be relishing his role. “And now I will pronounce your sentence. You will be executed at dawn.”
Mark gasped. Trey reeled backward, hitting the wall. He barely managed to avoid crying out in pain. This was all his fault Why had he kicked that knapsack and then just left it behind? Why hadn’t he taken it with him, or hidden it somewhere safe?
Even bravery’s not enough when you make stupid mistakes, Trey thought It was ironic — yes, now he truly understood that word. Trey had always prided himself on his brilliance and been ashamed of his cowardice. But now that he’d actually shown a little courage, his idiocy had condemned his friend to death.
All I’m really good for is remembering foreign languages, and they’re useless, Trey thought But then he had a flash of memory: When he’d been crouching in terror on the Talbots’ front porch, his knowledge of Latin had actually seemed to be the thing that saved his life. Why? What was so special about translat
ing “liber” into “free”?
For the first time, Trey thought maybe he understood. What if “liber” and “free” were code words — code words for people who believed in more freedom than the Population Police allowed?
Trey waited until the official had walked away, and then he whispered to Mark, “I think I know how to save you. Yell, ‘liber!’”
“Huh?” Mark said.
"Liber,” Trey said. “It means ‘free.”’
“Liber!” Mark yelled.
“Do it again,” Trey whispered. “And again. And throw some ‘Free’s’ in there too.”
“Liber!” Mark repeated obediently. “Liber! Liber! Free! Liber! Free! Liber! Free!”
At first, he was just saying the words. But soon his voice took on a plaintive strain, as if he were truly begging for freedom. It gave Trey chills. He hoped the sound would seep through the broken duct and out the fancy grilles into Aldous Krakenaur’s office.
Mark yelled until he was hoarse. But the only thing that happened was that the guard turned the light out, and Mark fell.
Chapter Twenty-One
"Mark?” Trey whispered. “It’s all my fault. I left the knapsack out there. I kicked it away, and then I forgot about it.”
“I forgot about it too,” Mark whispered back in a husky voice.
“They gave me a uniform. Maybe if I put it on and pretend to be a guard, I could — oh, no,” Trey groaned.
“What?” Mark said.
“I left the uniform back in the heat duct on the first floor,” Trey confessed. He hadn’t pulled it along with him when he’d shimmied down the duct to the basement He hadn’t even thought about the uniform then.
“Oh,” Mark said. That one short word, a mere syllable, spoke volumes. Mark had given up. “You — you should probably go now,” Mark added. “So they don’t catch you, too.”
“No,” Trey said, finally sitting down, rather than crouching, behind the boxes. “Nobody’s looking for me, and you got the guard scared of mice and rats. I’ll stay until — as long as I can.”
He wasn’t about to say, “until they execute you.” Still, the unspoken words seemed to hang between them. After a few moments, Mark whispered, “Thanks.”
For all the bad things that had happened in Trey’s life, this was the first time that he’d known about a tragedy beforehand. His father dying, his mother abandoning him, the chauffeur leaving him behind, the Population Police taking over the Government — all of those calamities had been sudden and unexpected. It didn’t seem fair to know that Mark was about to die, and not be able to stop it
“Mark, what if you bend back the bars of the cage?” Trey asked. “You’re strong—”
“I already tried,” Mark said. “The cage is stronger.” He was quiet for a minute, then said, “I think I understand better now how Luke always felt It was like he was in a cage his whole life. And I just thought he was wimpy.”
This was no time to remind Mark that it was dangerous to call Luke by his real name, that the fake name, Lee, was safer.
“And then he came back, and it was almost like he’d grown past me,” Mark said, sounding as if he was in a daze. “He’d had adventures and he’d seen the world, and you know, that Peter kid — Smits — he treated Luke like he was the biggest hero ever.” Mark hesitated, then went on. “I think I was jealous,” he confessed.
Trey didn’t think Lee had seen anything of the world besides Hendricks School and the Talbot house, but he knew what Mark meant. Trey had always felt the same way about Lee. Back at Hendricks, Lee had even stood up to the traitor, Jason. And he’d run back into a burning building to save other boys. Trey had never understood where Lee got his courage. But — he thought of Mark as strong and brave as well.
“Mark, you came here trying to rescue your brother. You’re a hero too,” Trey argued.
“I didn’t succeed,” Mark whispered. “I don’t even know where Luke is. And they’re going to kill me, and my parents will never know what happened to either of us. Or — or maybe — maybe because of me, they’ll track down Mother and Dad and Matthew and punish them, too….” His voice cracked.
“Everything’s a mess,” Trey said. “But it’s not your fault.”
He didn’t even know how he was going to manage to escape after Mark was gone. But it seemed selfish to think about his own future when Mark didn’t have one.
“It was stupid to come here, to think I could help Luke,” Mark said bitterly
“No it wasn’t,” Trey argued. “We had to try.”
His words sounded false to his own ears. Whatever danger Trey was in, he wasn’t sitting in a cage, condemned to death, like Mark was. Who was Trrey to tell Mark they’d done the right thing?
But Mark didn’t seem mad at him.
“Trey?” Mark said. “If it’d been you in here and me outside — I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do what you did. I wouldn’t have thought of joining the Population Police. And crawling through those ducts? A small space like that? I couldn’t have done it. You’re braver than me.”
“People are brave in different ways,” Trey said. The idea had just occurred to him.
“But — why did you do it?” Mark said. “No offense, but before I thought you were the most chicken kid I’ve ever met. Why did you come into Population Police headquarters looking for me?”
Trey pondered Mark’s questions.
“I’m not sure,” he finally answered. “Maybe I just didn’t want to be left alone."
Mark choked back a laugh.
“There are a whole lot of easier ways to avoid being lonely,” he said.
“I don’t know,” They said. “People are always leaving me behind. My dad died, my mother abandoned me, the chauffeur drove off without me…. You were the first person who didn’t leave me behind on purpose. The first person who was planning to come back. So I had to do everything to find you.”
Mark seemed to be absorbing this. Then he said, “Wait a minute. If your father died — well, it’s not like he died on purpose, right?”
“I guess not,” Trey said. He knew he couldn’t really blame his dad for having a heart attack and dying. But he wasn’t willing to let his dad off the hook so easily. He didn’t want Mark thinking Trey’s father had been some great guy who’d just died too soon.
“Listen to this, though,” Trey said, the anger he’d been holding down for a year suddenly boiling over. “My dad got a fake I.D. for me way back when I was still a baby. But he kept me hidden, he didn’t let me go anywhere — he didn’t even tell me I had that I.D. Ever.”
“Maybe your dad didn’t think the I.D. was good enough. Like it was only an emergency backup. Just in case,” Mark said.
“But then my mom, after my dad died, she just drove me to Hendricks School and dumped me out. Said it wasn’t safe for me to see her ever again.”
“That’s what everyone said about Luke, too, when he left,” Mark said.
“But which one of my parents was right?” Trey whispered.
“I don’t know,” Mark said. “What would you do if you had a third child?”
Trey had never asked himself this question. He’d never thought about what it would be like to be the one in control, with power over somebody else’s fate. He remembered all the attention his father had given him, the way he’d always raved, “Your older brothers never cared for Latin. I’m so glad I have you!” And Trey, who’d never met his older brothers because they were much, much older and lived far, far away, had just glowed.
But he also remembered the strained look on his mother’s face the day she left him behind at Hendricks. She’d been crying as she left.
Was it possible his parents both thought they were doing the right thing?
He and Mark had thought they were doing the right thing too, driving off in search of Lee. But Mark’s parents probably didn’t think so, now that they had two sons missing.
It was all too confusing, all the choices out in the world. All the mistakes th
at were possible.
No wonder Trey’s dad had thought he was doing Trey a favor keeping him at home, teaching him grammar rules that made the world seem safe and orderly.
Trey closed his eyes briefly, as if that could ward off the confusion and the darkness. When he opened them again, he could see a dim light bobbing at the opposite side of the basement A flashlight
“Is it — is it dawn already?” Mark moaned. “Are they coming for me?”
“Shh,” the person behind the flashlight hissed. If some Population Police officers or guards were coming to take Mark away, why would they be concerned about silence? Why wouldn’t they just turn on the light? What was going on?
Chapter Twenty-Two
The light drew nearer.
“Whisper,” a voice instructed Mark. “Why were you yelling, ‘liber?”
“I thought it might save my life,” Mark said in a hushed tone. “Will it?”
The guard — for it was a guard; a different one, but still in a Population Police uniform — shone the light into Mark’s face.
“How can a word save your life?” the guard asked.
“I don’t know,” Mark admitted.
Trey’s heart sank. He hadn’t explained. Mark didn’t know. But then, it wasn’t like Trey understood much either. He’d just been making guesses in the dark.
“Why that word?” the guard continued. “How did you know the word ‘liber?"
“A friend told me,” Mark said.
‘Who is this friend?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Didn’t this friend tell you to whisper, not to yell?”
“No,” Mark said. “He told me to yell.”
The guard kept his light trained on Mark’s face. He seemed to be studying Mark very carefully.
“You are not one of us,” the guard finally said. “You are a threat, not an ally. I cannot help you.”
“Please—,” Mark said.
But the guard was already walking away, his flashlight directed back toward the stairs.
“I’m begging you—” Mark pleaded. The guard turned around.
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