Mornings: school, like every other kid and teen not actively working in a field. Limited books and supplies meant sharing with others. I shared my textbooks with Gretchen, Enzo, and Magdy. This worked fine when we were all speaking to each other, less so when some of us were not.

"Will you two please focus?" Magdy said, waving his hands in front of the two of us. We were supposed to be doing calculus.

"Stop it," Gretchen said. She had her head down on our table. It had been a hard workout that morning. "God, I miss coffee," she said, looking up at me.

"It would be nice to get to this problem sometime today," Magdy said.

"Oh, what do you care," Gretchen said. "It's not like any of us are going to college anyway."

"We still have to do it," Enzo said.

"You do it, then," Gretchen said. She leaned over and pushed the book toward the two of them. "It's not me or Zoë who has to learn this stuff. We already know it. You two are always waiting for us to do the work, and then just nodding like you actually know what we're doing."

"That's not true," Magdy said.

"Really? Fine," Gretchen said. "Prove it. Impress me."

"I think someone's morning exertions are making her a little grumpy," Magdy said, mockingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

"It means that since the two of you started whatever it is you're doing, you've been pretty useless here," Magdy said. "Despite what Gretchen the Grump is hinting at, it's the two of us who have been carrying the two of you lately, and you know it."

"You're carrying us in math?" Gretchen said. "I don't think so."

"Everything else, sweetness," Magdy said. "Unless you think Enzo pulling together that report on the early Colonial Union days last week doesn't count."

"That's not 'we,' that's Enzo," Gretchen said. "And thank you, Enzo. Happy, Magdy? Good. Now let's all shut up about this." Gretchen put her head back down on the table. Enzo and Magdy looked at each other.

"Here, give me the book," I said, reaching for it. "I'll do this problem." Enzo slid the book over to me, not quite meeting my gaze.

Afternoons: training.

"So, how is the training going?" Enzo asked me one early evening, catching me as I limped home from the day's workout.

"Do you mean, can I kill you yet?" I asked.

"Well, no," Enzo said. "Although now that you mention it I'm curious. Can you?"

"It depends," I said, "on what it is you're asking me to kill you with." There was an uncomfortable silence after that. "That was a joke," I said.

"Are you sure?" Enzo said.

"We didn't even get around to how to kill things today," I said, changing the subject. "We spent the day learning how to move quietly. You know. To avoid capture."

"Or to sneak up on something," Enzo said.

I sighed. "Yes, okay, Enzo. To sneak up on things. To kill them. Because I like to kill. Kill and kill again, that's me. Little Zoë Stab Stab." I sped up my walking speed.

Enzo caught up with me. "Sorry," he said. "That wasn't fair of me."

"Really," I said.

"It's just a topic of conversation, you know," Enzo said. "What you and Gretchen are doing."

I stopped walking. "What kind of conversation?" I asked.

"Well, think about it," Enzo said. "You and Gretchen are spending your afternoons preparing for the apocalypse. What do you think people are talking about?"

"It's not like that," I said.

"I know," Enzo said, reaching out and touching my arm, which reminded me we spent less time touching each other lately. "I've told people that, too. Doesn't keep people from talking, though. That and the fact that it's you and Gretchen."

"So?" I said.

"You're the daughter of the colony leaders, she's the daughter of the guy everyone knows is next in line on the colony council," Enzo said. "It looks like you're getting special treatment. If it was just you, people would get it. People know you've got that weird thing you have with the Obin—"

"It's not weird," I said.

Enzo looked at me blankly.

"Yeah, okay," I said.

"People know you've got that thing with the Obin, so they wouldn't think about it if it was just you," Enzo said. "But the two of you is making people nervous. People wonder if you guys know something we don't."

"That's ridiculous," I said. "Gretchen is my best friend. That's why I asked her. Should I have asked someone else?"

"You could have," Enzo said.

"Like who?" I said.

"Like me," Enzo said. "You know, your boyfriend."

"Yeah, because people wouldn't talk about that," I said.

"Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't," Enzo said. "But at least I'd get to see you every once in a while."

I didn't have any good answer to that. So I just gave Enzo a kiss.

"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or guilty or whatever," Enzo said, when I was done. "But I would like to see more of you."

"That statement can be interpreted in many different ways," I said.

"Let's start with the innocent ones," Enzo said. "But we can go from there if you want."

"And anyway, you see me every day," rewinding the conversation just a little. "And we always spend time together at the hootenannies."

"I don't count doing schoolwork together as time together," Enzo said. "And as much fun as it is to admire how you trained Hickory to imitate a sitar solo—"

"That's Dickory," I said. "Hickory does the drum sounds."

Enzo gently put a finger to my lips. "As much fun as it is," he repeated. "I'd rather have some time for just you and me." He kissed me, which was pretty effective punctuation.

"How about now?" I said, after the kiss.

"Can't," Enzo said. "On my way home to babysit Maria and Katherina so my parents can have dinner with friends."

"Waaah," I said. "Kiss me, tell me you want to spend time together, leave me hanging. Nice."

"But I have tomorrow afternoon free," Enzo said. "Maybe then. After you're done with your stabbing practice."

"We already did stabbing," I said. "Now we're on to strangulation."

Silence.

"Joke," I said.

"I only have your word for that," Enzo said.

"Cute." I kissed him again. "See you tomorrow."

The next day training went long. I skipped dinner to head to Enzo's parents' homestead. His mother said he'd waited around, and then headed over to Magdy's. We didn't talk to each other much the next day during school.

Evenings: study.

"We have reached an agreement with Jerry Bennett to allow you to use the information center in the evenings twice a week," Hickory said.

I suddenly felt sorry for Jerry Bennett, who I had heard was more than a little terrified of Hickory and Dickory, and probably would have agreed to anything they asked just so long as they left him alone. I made a mental note to invite Bennett to the next hootenanny. There's nothing to make an Obin look less threatening than to see one in front of a crowd, bobbing its neck back and forth and making like a tabla drum.

Hickory continued. "While you are there, you will study the Colonial Union files of other sentient species."

"Why do you want us to learn about them?" Gretchen asked.

"To know how to fight them," Hickory said. "And how to kill them."

"There are hundreds of species in the Conclave," I said. "Are we supposed to learn about each of them? That's going to take more than two nights a week."

"We will be focusing on species who are not members of the Conclave," Hickory said.

Gretchen and I looked at each other. "But they're not the ones planning to kill us," Gretchen said.

"There are many trying to kill you," Hickory said. "And some may be more motivated than others. For example, the Rraey. They recently lost a war with the Enesha, who took control of most of their colonies before they were themselves defeated by the Obin. The Rraey are no longer a direct threat to any established race or colony. But if they were to find you here, there is no doubt what they would do."