It was awful. All those eyes, all looking at him. It was straight out of
Luke's worst nightmares. Panic rooted him to the spot, but every muscle
in his body was screaming for him to run, to hide anywhere he could. For
twelve years his entire life he'd had to hide. To be seen was death.
Don't! he wanted to scream. Don't look at me! Don't report me! Please!
But the muscles that controlled his mouth were as frozen as the rest of
him. The tiny part of his mind that wasn't flooded with panic knew that
that was good -- now that he had a fake I.D., the last thing he should
do was act like a boy who's had to hide. But to act normal, he needed to
move, to obey the man at the front and sit down. And he couldn't make
his body do that, either. -- from Among the Impostors
Luke Garner is terrified.
Out of hiding for the first time in his life, he knows that any minute
one of his new classmates at Hendricks School for Boys could discover
his secret: that he's a third child passing as the recently deceased Lee
Grant. And in a society where it's illegal for families to have more
than two children, being a third child means certain death at the hands
of the dreaded Population Police.
His first experience outside the safety of his home is bewildering.
There's not a single window anywhere in the school; Luke can't tell his
classmates apart (even as they subject him to brutal hazing); and the
teachers seem oblivious to it all.
Desperate to fit in, Luke endures the confusion and teasing until he
discovers an unlocked door to the outside, and a chance to understand
what is really going on. But to take this chance -- to find out the
secrets of Hendricks -- Luke will need to put aside his fears and
discover a courage that a lifetime in hiding couldn't thwart.
Once again, best-selling author Margaret Peterson Haddix delights her
fans with this spine-tingling account of an all-too-possible future.
Among the Impostors is a worthy companion to Among the Hidden and a
heart-stopping thriller in its own right.
