Among the Betrayed (15 page)

Nina's smile slipped. Why did Mr. Talbot have to confuse everything again?

“No, no,” she said. “That's not what I believe. This just means—he wasn't all bad. He's dead anyway. So I can . . . hold on to the good memories and let go of being mad at him.” She wondered what had made Jason the way he was. She remembered how desperate she'd felt in the jail cell when she'd been so tempted to betray Percy, Matthias, and Alia. What if Jason had been even more desperate? What if he hadn't wanted to betray anyone, either, but had been too weak to resist?

It was odd to think of Jason as weak. She could actually feel sorry for him now. She could hold on to that forever, the way she held on to memories of Gran and the aunties.

“Nina,” Mr. Talbot said. “Jason isn't dead. I thought they had executed him, but . . . it turns out that another faction of the Population Police thought he might still be useful. I've only recently found out that he's working for the Population Police in some top secret project. Something we who oppose the Government are very concerned about.” He paused for a second, as if waiting for the news to sink in. “So, what does that information do for you? Are you going to rush to his side, to help him, because he
loves
you?”

Nina stared at Mr. Talbot in amazement.

“He's alive?” she whimpered. “He's alive?”

Strangely, this seemed like bad news. If Jason were dead, she could go all misty-eyed remembering him, daydreaming about what might have been, just like Aunty Zenka mooning over one of her books. But with him alive and working for the Population Police—“I have to stay mad,” she said aloud. “I can't ever forgive him.”

“Bitter is a bad way to live,” Mr. Talbot said.

Nina remembered that he had lost Jen, that he had reason to stay angry at the Government forever. She sank down onto one of Mr. Hendricks's couches. This was all going to overwhelm her. She was just a little girl who'd spent most of her life hiding, listening to old ladies' foolish stories. Or had they been foolish? All the fairy tales Gran and the aunties had told her were about people staying true to what was right in the face of great adversity. She'd heard the wrong part of the stories if she
thought she was just supposed to sit around like a princess, waiting for some prince to fall in love with her.

She looked straight at Mr. Talbot.

“I don't want to stay bitter. But I want to help you—what can I do to make sure Jason's project fails?”

Mr. Talbot almost smiled. Nina felt like she'd passed another test.

“We'll see,” he said. “We'll see.”

Nina went back out toward Lee's garden to finish picking corn. The sun was setting now, casting long shadows over the path. Just about every step Nina took alternated between sunlight and dark. Nina's thoughts bounced back and forth just as dramatically.
Jason
did
love me. That's what really matters. . . . But he was still evil. . . . Why did I say I'd help Mr. Talbot oppose the Government? . . . How could I not have said that, after everything Mr. Talbot did for me? . . . What can I possibly do, anyway?

As Nina approached the garden she saw Lee waiting for her there. Whatever she did for Mr. Talbot, she realized, she would not be alone. Lee would probably be involved, and so would Percy and Matthias and Alia.

Nina remembered how alone she'd felt in her jail cell, all those months ago. Feeling abandoned and betrayed was worse than hunger, worse than cold, worse than the handcuffs on her wrists. But she hadn't been abandoned; she had only accidentally been betrayed.

“Well?” Lee said as soon as she got close enough to hear. “Was I right?”

It took Nina a moment to remember what he was talking about: the tape. Jason's betrayal.

“It's a long story,” Nina said. “And it's not over yet.”

But part of her story was over—the part where she was innocent and stupid and useless. She'd been so worried before that people might not remember her as Elodie—sweet, loving, little-girl Elodie. But she'd outgrown Elodie. She'd outgrown Nina the ninny, too. She was ready now to make whatever name she carried one that people could respect and revere.

Like Jen Talbot's.

“I think . . . I think I just volunteered to help Mr. Talbot and Mr. Hendricks fight the Population Police,” she said.

Lee's gaze was steady and unfailing.

“Good,” he said. “Welcome to the club.”

A
LSO BY
M
ARGARET
P
ETERSON
H
ADDIX

T
HE
M
ISSING SERIES

Book 1:
Found

Book 2:
Sent

Book 3:
Sabotaged

T
HE
S
HADOW
C
HILDREN SERIES

Among the Hidden

Among the Impostors

Among the Barons

Among the Brave

Among the Enemy

Among the Free

The Girl with 500 Middle Names

Because of Anya

Say What?

Dexter the Tough

Running Out of Time

The House on the Gulf

Double Identity

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

Leaving Fishers

Just Ella

Turnabout

Takeoffs and Landings

Escape from Memory

Uprising

Palace of Mirrors

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 2002 by Margaret Peterson Haddix

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
B
OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster.

Book design by Greg Stadnyk

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haddix, Margaret Peterson.

Among the betrayed / by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

p. cm.

Sequel to: Among the imposters.

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Nina is imprisoned by the Population Police, who give her the option of helping them identify illegal “third-born” children, or facing death.

ISBN 0-689-83905-7

eISBN: 978-1-4424-4306-8

[1. Betrayal—Fiction. 2. Conduct of life—Fiction. 3. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.H1164 Ak 2002

[Fic]—dc21

2001032214