Among the Hidden

Luke panics, having never been this exposed before. He tugs at the door but cannot open it. He didn’t plan for an unlocked door because he’s never been at anyone’s door except his own. He punches through the screen, ripping the wire away from the frame and cutting his hand in the process. He unlocks the door and steps inside. The house is much cleaner, nicer, and more modern than his family’s. 

Luke hears someone cough in another room as well as a strange beeping. He follows the sound cautiously. When he pushes the door open, he sees a girl around his age using a computer. Luke has never used one, but he knows what they look like. 

The girl notices Luke and quickly leaps at him, tackling him and pinning him to the floor. She tells him her alarm system is going off and guards will be here soon to take Luke away. Thinking quickly, Luke tells her he’s the Population Police, and the girl lets go of him.

At first, the girl believes Luke is lying, but then she realizes Luke is another third child, or shadow child, as the girl calls him. She compliments his use of Population Police as a code word. Luke has never heard the term shadow children, but the girl implies it’s well-known. 

The girl is much more confident and outgoing than Luke. She calls her dad on the phone and asks him to disable the security alarm. She wasn’t lying about the guards, but she usually just hides when she accidentally sets off the alarm. On the phone, in response to her father’s scolding for setting off the alarm again, a habit she’s made out of boredom, she reminds him that the penalty for having a third child ranges from a steep fine to death. Luke is surprised that she uses the phone. His parents told him the government could track them through the phone. He worries the Population Police will show up. He warns the girl about this, but she scoffs. 

The girl, who introduces herself as Jen, is confident the government cannot actually track shadow children through the phone, internet, or television. She’s lived her entire life using these electronics with no issue. She indicates she’s met other shadow children, explaining that they can be jumpy before reassuring Luke that he is safe. Luke is surprised to learn Jen has met other people outside her family, and he feels injustice toward his own situation. Jen explains that she and her parents use bribery to skirt the law. 

Jen asks how Luke knew she was there, so he explains his entire story about his life before and after the woods disappeared. Jen is sheepish when he tells her he saw her in the window, explaining that her mirrors were messed up and she wanted to check the weather. Luke is confused. Jen tells Luke that she’s his ticket out.

At dinner, Luke cannot stop thinking about his encounter with Jen. He’s proud of himself for being brave enough to leave the house. He’s so happy about his interaction that he almost mentions Jen at dinner. He knows he can’t say anything to his family because they’ll prevent him from leaving. 

While at Jen’s, Luke and Jen decided to set up a signal system to inform one another that they’re safe to meet. After running through failed ideas like a flashlight, which Luke doesn’t own, or candles, which Luke isn’t allowed to fetch from the kitchen, they agreed on Luke flickering the backdoor light as a signal. 

Luke was surprised that Jen used a computer. He recalled being young and tapping the spacebar on his father’s computer, only to be scolded by his mother that the government could find them if he touched it. He begins to realize how cautious and paranoid his parents are. Jen told Luke about the government propaganda—that they spent so much money making people afraid of the law, they didn’t have any money to enforce it to the extent that they threatened. 

Jen also told Luke about her life. Her older brothers are from her mother’s first marriage. She is the product of her mother’s second marriage. Now, she and her mother and brothers live with her mother’s third husband. Jen’s mom paid a lot of money to have a baby girl, despite the practice of genetic selection being outlawed. From their conversation, Jen could tell Luke doesn’t come from money like her family does. All Jen’s mother’s husbands have been lawyers, and her current husband works for the government. Luke was surprised about this, but Jen explained that government officials break the law the most. 

During the conversation, Jen indicated that she had some sort of plan going on for shadow children, adding that it’s good Luke isn’t a fellow Baron. She told him she’s not the only one involved in the plan, but she remained vague. On his way out of Jen’s house, Luke noticed his hand cut had bled on the carpet. To save face, Jen thrust her arm into the screen door hole and got a cut as well, squeezing her own blood onto the carpet to hide Luke’s. 

While still sitting at dinner, Luke thinks about Jen cutting herself for him.

Luke thinks about his visit with Jen constantly, but the next day a government inspector comes by to check on the family’s crops, and the day after it rains, so Dad stays home. On the third day, Luke is alone, so he flips on the back door light, eagerly awaiting Jen’s light in response. However, Jen does not respond, so Luke turns off the light and grows worried. He’d never known anyone besides his family, so it’s the first time he’s ever worried about someone else. 

The next day, Jen answers his signal. When Luke gets there, Jen explains that her mother took her shopping on her day off. Luke is amazed to hear that Jen left the house and went into town. Jen explains that her family car has a hollowed-out seat where she rides, and her mother got her a forged shopping pass that indicates Jen is her mother’s niece, in case anyone stops them. The pass will work at the mall but not if they are stopped on the road, so Jen must still hide in the car. Luke thinks about what life would be like if his own parents got him a forged pass. Luke asks Jen what the city is like, but Jen thinks it’s boring. She hates shopping. 

Jen informs Luke that she collected his fingerprints from his first visit and checked to see if he’s in an online database. According to Jen’s findings, the government does not know of Luke’s existence. Luke is scared they will now know because of Jen’s work, but Jen assures him the government is not that competent. Jen trusts Luke now, so she offers to show him her chat room and tell him about the rally. 

Jen also offers Luke chips and soda. While Luke eats, Jen asks if he ever goes hungry, informing him that many shadow children aren’t treated properly because they’re illegal and don’t have food ration cards. Luke’s family hasn’t struggled with this much since they grow their own food. Luke learns that meat is incredibly scarce. Now that his family no longer has hogs, they’ll have meat much more rarely. Jen explains that it takes more land to raise animals than to grow vegetables and asks what Luke’s family used to feed their hogs. When Luke tells her they used to feed the hogs the grain that wasn’t up to the government standards, Jen excitedly goes to post that idea to her online forum. 

Jen explains that the government has kept the population low because food is scarce, but she believes the government is incompetent and isn’t doing all it can to increase food production. Luke feels bad, worrying that he’s taking food from people who are legal by existing illegally. Jen goes on to say that her dad believes there is plenty of food, but it isn’t distributed properly. Jen passionately believes in the abolishment of the Population Law. She explains that she has assembled hundreds of shadow children in her chat room, and they plan to march on the president’s house. She is excited about the idea of having Luke on board.

Luke is terrified at the idea of attending a rally. Just moving between houses is scary enough for him. Jen is scared too, but she’s passionate about ending the suffering of shadow children. 

On the computer, the kids in Jen’s chat room talk about their lives. One child complains that he cannot turn the air conditioner on in his house during the day, despite the high temperatures outside. Jen created the chat room and passed the password along to the third children of her parents' friends, who passed it along to build up the network. In her messages to her online friends, Jen is passionate about advocating for the rights of third children. She tells Luke the password for the chat room is the word free.