“It’s fear of the unknown, but it’s really a fear that they manufacture in order to manipulate each other. And that leads to their other problem, which, frankly, is stupidity. It takes Ralph way too long to realize that Jack has turned the other kids against him.”

“Okay, so Ralph is naïve. But why do they plot against him?”

“It’s the savage part of our nature, an animal quality—it’s amoral, capable of evil.”

Dan was wading into the deep end now, unsure what Oglesby wanted and partially bullshitting.

“What’s the difference between amorality and immorality, Mr. Malone?”

“Awareness. Intent . . .” Dan’s thoughts scrambled for the answer that decoded the book—and his teacher. “And society. You take away society, and this amoral animal instinct takes over.”

Oglesby was shaking his head in disagreement. “Do you need to take away society? There are murders every day in the city of Dallas. Too many. Mr. Malone is missing the point . . .”

Ouch. Dan thought he had cracked it.

“A point which you need to understand about this book, gentlemen, because the dynamic that governs Lord of the Flies is one of the keys to understanding this class, and”—Oglesby dropped his teaser—“winning the Game.”

“Uh-oh,” Sticky muttered. He had heard about the Game from his older brother.

“What did Dennis tell you about the Game, Mr. O’Donnell?”

“He said it was . . .” Sticky wasn’t sure how to translate his brother’s pants-crapping warnings. “He said it was a lot of our grade.”

“Indeed. Twenty-five percent for the second semester will be determined by the outcome of the Game.”

The Game was a central mystery to Oglesby’s honors English and a wellspring of rumors and riddles for the panicked sophomores. Mere mention of the Game to Oglesby alums from previous classes produced a good-luck-with-that head shake and some cryptic comment along the lines of “The harder you try, the more likely you’re to fail” or “Pay attention, you have to figure out how it’s rigged.”

“So is the Beast good or bad?” Oglesby asked, setting them back on track.

“Both,” blurted Dan—he was figuring out how to unpack these trick questions. Maybe. “The Beast is us, part of our nature, it’s good and bad.”

“Are you certain about that, Mr. Malone?”

“Eh . . . yes.”

A few of the sophomores laughed, and the teacher grinned—they were either onto a major philosophical truth or had missed the point of the book entirely. Oglesby didn’t let on which way he thought the discussion was going but capped the discussion there and returned journals.