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that I can’t really describe. You know because they know. When you meet one of them, you can sense it, and so can they. You can feel it. Like I said, it’s hard to explain. One day, if you’re lucky, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
    â€œAnd what if we’re not lucky?” asked one of the kids.
    â€œThen it will be too late.” I paused for a moment, unsure if I’d said too much. Another hand went up. It was a girl in the back. To this point, she’d been quiet. I’d almost thought that no one was going to ask the question that Matt and I were waiting for, but if anyone asked it, I knew it would be her. She looked the most afraid, but I knew that was only because she was the only one brave enough not to hide her fear. I pointed to her.
    â€œWhy?” she asked, her voice soft but sure.
    I knew what she meant but it didn’t matter that I knew. I needed everyone else to know too. “Why what?” I prodded her.
    She looked around at the others before speaking, almost afraid to ask the question. “Why are they trying to kill us? Why do they hate us? Why do we have to kill them? Why?” Her voice trailed off. She could have kept going. She could have kept asking why this and why that forever but she made herself stop. The room went quiet. All the eyes moved from the girl back to me. Everything depended on my answer.
    â€œMatt has told you that they are evil, but what is evil?” I shrugged. “Sometimes I’m sure I know. Sometimes I have my doubts.” I looked at Matt. He was glaring at me nervously, unsure of where I was going with my answer. He didn’t have to worry. I’d done this before. “Here’s what I do know: they’ve killed your parents, your brothers, your sisters. If they haven’t yet, they’re going to try.” I paused, purely for effect. “They will kill everyone you’ve ever loved, and then they will kill you.” I stared at the girl even though I wasn’t only speaking to her. I was speaking to all of them. “Unless we stop them.”
    I could have kept going. I could have asked them if that was reason enough. I didn’t have to. I could see it in their eyes, even the eyes of the girl who had asked the question. I hadn’t actually answered her question. I did better. I’d invalidated it. “Isn’t that enough?”
    â€œI’ve got two more slides to show you guys.” We had to ease them into it, but we had to give them a taste too. I motioned toward Matt. He clicked a button on the computer. The close-up of a man’s face lit up on the wall. There was nothing extraordinary about the picture. He was a white man, about thirty-five years old. He was stocky and his hair was receding. In the picture he was smiling, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. It was smile full of malice. Intelligence had picked a good picture for their purposes. “This man’s name is Robert Gardner.” The kids stared at the face. “When I was twelve years old, this man killed my uncle. I was with him at the time. My uncle had taken me to the mall to pick up a new baseball mitt. We were walking through the mall together and I turned to look at the dogs in the pet store window. When I turned back around my uncle was gone. They came up and grabbed him when I wasn’t looking. My parents had to come to the mall and pick me up after I’d searched the mall for my uncle for hours. Nobody told me at the time that even before I gave up my search, they’d found my uncle in the Dumpster behind the food court. The men who kidnapped him had slit his throat from one ear to the other.” Nobody in the room made a sound. He was my favorite uncle. I loved him. He was with me one minute and the next minute he was gone and I was alone. I never got to see him again. You don’t know what that’s like, Maria. Those kids did, though. “When I turned eighteen,