Where We Are

Chapter 1: Micah 1 Micah
WHEN THE KNOCK came, my parents were upstairs getting ready for bed, so I answered the door. It was weird to see Deeson, the head acolyte, outside of Reflection. Weirder yet to see him in a black hoodie. Not the type, Deeson. In fact, the complete opposite of a black hoodie type is Deeson. I mean, he'd tied the hoodie strings underneath his chin. But still, there he was, white face tilted up beneath the hood, appraising me.

"Bless the child, Acolyte Deeson," I said. That was-is-how members of the Living Lights greet each other.

"Gather your parents and your duffels and follow me," he said. "We are called to the South Compound."

See how he didn't address me as Acolyte Stone? That's Deeson. He has dead eyes. The Prophet once praised Deeson's eyes in Reflection, saying that they revealed purity of purpose. What purpose, though? That's what I wanted to ask but didn't. Like everyone else, I didn't ask questions during Reflection. One day into our underground life, I think about that. How none of us questioned the Prophet or anything he said.

Our duffels were prepacked and waiting at the top of the stairs: the white robes and white underwear we had all been issued months before, a gallon jug of water each, the Reflections book that the Prophet had written and self-published and that the Living Lights used instead of a Bible, and a brush or comb.

My parents looked up at me from the bathroom sink, where they were brushing their teeth-they always brushed their teeth at the same time-when I told them that Deeson was there, it was time to go to the South Compound, get the duffels and follow him. They didn't ask any questions. They just nodded. That's something else I think about now. They rinsed and spat and then the three of us packed our toothbrushes into our duffels and went downstairs where Deeson was waiting by the door.

"Bless the child, Acolytes Stone," he said to my parents-see, he called them acolytes-and then, "Did

Alison McGhee is the New York Times bestselling author of Someday, as well as Dear Sister, What I Leave Behind, Pablo and Birdy, Where We Are, Maybe a Fox with Kathi Appelt, Firefly Hollow, Little Boy, So Many Days, Star Bright, A Very Brave Witch, Dear Brother, and the Bink and Gollie books. Her other children's books include All Rivers Flow to the Sea, Countdown to Kindergarten, and Snap!. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Laguna Beach, California. You can visit her at AlisonMcGhee.com.

"A thoughtful, realistic story of survival." Kirkus Reviews