drawing attention to himself, and he is bullied by jackal boy every night. One morning Luke sees an open door that leads to the outside. When he is sure no one is looking he slips through it, and runs into the woods a short distance away. Luke looks back towards the school to make sure he hasn't been followed, and notices that the school building has no windows. He remembers the note from Mr. Talbot and reads it. During the last week he has convinced himself that the note will answer all his questions about how to survive at Hendricks, but Luke finds that it only says: “blend in.” Luke becomes angry and considers running back to his parents’ house, but in the end goes back to the school. Luke begins to pay attention to everything and everyone at Hendricks so that he can devise a way to get to the woods every day without being caught. He learns how to navigate the school's many hallways and staircases, and after poking his head in every room in the school realizes that there are no windows anywhere. He also notices that many of the students behave strangely. Some sit and rock back and forth for hours, while others sleep all the time; the teachers pay no attention to any of it. Although he can't understand much of what he learns, after a week Luke feels confident enough to start going to the woods for a few hours each day. After he notices a raspberry plant growing in a clearing one day Luke decides to plant a garden, and spends the next few days cultivating it. He returns to the garden one afternoon and finds that it has been destroyed, and believes that other boys from the school are responsible. That night he hides near the door to the outside and when he hears some boys go through it, he follows them. Luke follows the boys deep into the woods, where they are joined by a group of girls. Luke sees that the leader of the group from Hendricks is jackal boy, and as he listens to their conversation he realizes that they are all illegal shadow children, just like him. Luke announces himself to the group and after he is told that his garden was destroyed by accident jackal boy – whose real name is Jason – asks Luke to become