The Declaration

mean. Keeping a diary and writing in it plans for escaping. That’s surely a Sin?’
    Mrs Pincent stood up.
    ‘A diary?’ she asked immediately, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. ‘Did Anna keep a diary?’
    Sheila looked down at the floor again.
    ‘I’m an evil Surplus,’ she said, her voice level. ‘I don’t know anything.’
    ‘You insolent girl,’ Mrs Pincent said angrily, her eyes flashing. She walked round her desk so that she was standing right in front of Sheila. ‘If you know something, you must tell me.’
    Sheila shrugged, and Mrs Pincent stared at her. Then she moved back so that she was leaning on the front of her desk.
    ‘You know, Sheila,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘I might be able to overlook your stealing. If you were to help me, you understand. In fact, with Anna not with us any more, I need to appoint a new Prefect. A Prefect I can trust. A Prefect who tells me things that I need to know.’
    Sheila looked up at her and smiled enigmatically. ‘I think I’d be a good Prefect,’ she said softly. ‘Much better than Anna. Anna really wasn’t a very good Prefect, House Matron. Not very good at all. She hid things, you see. But I knew all about them. I notice things, you see.’
    ‘I do see, Sheila,’ Mrs Pincent said slowly. ‘Now, as my new Prefect why don’t you show me what you know?’
    Sheila nodded gravely.
    ‘Of course, House Matron. I’d be only too pleased.’
    Anna woke in a cold sweat. She had slept fitfully, her head filled with nightmares and she was shaking. But she felt like she was floating on a cloud, so soft were the mattress and blankets surrounding her. The woman was still there, and there was a man at her side too now. He was handsome and had dark hair and he was looking at her like she was something very special, and Anna felt a bit embarrassed.
    ‘I dreamt about Mrs Pincent coming to get me,’ she said to the woman. ‘And Sheila was calling after me and asking me to come back for her. And then there were Catchers, and . . .’
    The man leant down to kiss her, then, and he held her to him, and he smelt like the Outside, so fresh and beautiful, and Anna found herself wrapping her arms around him like it was the most normal thing in the world.
    ‘Do you know who we are?’ he asked.
    Anna shook her head, because she didn’t want to get it wrong, because if they weren’t who she thought they were then she’d feel stupid but also so disappointed she didn’t think she could bear it.
    And then the woman said, ‘We’re your parents. Anna, my darling, you’re home now. And we’re never going to let you go again. Not ever. So don’t you worry about Mrs Pincent and the Catchers because you’re safe. No one knows you’re here, and we’ll look after you, I promise.’
    ‘And Peter?’ Anna asked fearfully. ‘He’s still here?’
    ‘He’s asleep,’ her father said, and just the fact that he was her father, that she’d allowed herself to even think the words ‘my father’, made her want to cry again. But she didn’t because she was a Pending, and crying was a weakness, even on the Outside, even when you had parents.
    ‘There’s someone else we’d like you to meet, if you want to,’ her mother said. And Anna sat up, because it seemed the right thing to do, and nodded and smoothed her hair down so she didn’t look too much of a mess.
    Her mother got up and left the room, and a few seconds later she came back in and she put a Small in Anna’s arms. Anna didn’t usually like Smalls, particularly young ones like this. The ones she’d glimpsed at Grange Hall from time to time looked dirty and smelly and all they did was scream. But this wasn’t a normal Small. It was beautiful, with light downy hair on its head and the most wonderful smell, like heaven. And when she looked at it, it smiled at her and opened its mouth and gurgled something. Anna looked at it in amazement because she’d never known that a Small could be so intoxicating and precious.
    ‘He’s your brother,’ her father said. ‘And he’s been so looking forward to meeting his big sister.’
    Anna stroked him tenderly. She couldn’t believe that such an incredible thing could be related to her.
    ‘You must be hungry,’ her mother said. Anna shrugged because she was – starving, in fact – but she didn’t want to let go of the Small.
    ‘My brother,’ she said out loud, enjoying the sound of the words coming out of her lips. ‘My parents. My parents and my