Luke Garner is a 12-year-old boy whose family owns a farm. He is the protagonist of Among the Hidden. Luke has spent his entire life hiding from the government and from people outside his family because he is an illegal third child. Luke began to question his existence as a hidden child around the age of six, when he realized he remembered his older brothers turning six and they never had to hide before that. He always believed he’d eventually be old enough to be seen like they are, to go to school like they do, and to live a normal life, but on his sixth birthday, he began to realize things were different for him. Luke has obeyed his family dutifully and stayed hidden his entire life without complaint. He sometimes sees this as a virtue, thinking “he dealt with hiding better than anyone else in his family would” (99), but his view on life and his perception of the world outside his house are soon challenged when he meets fellow third child Jen.

Chapter 1 opens on big changes for Luke. He’s lived all his life with minimal freedoms but still had the freedom to go outside and breathe fresh air.