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would be like to have the kind of life where everyone goes to work in the morning, then, at the end of the day, comes home.”
    We spend a quiet second thinking of all the people who never came home. Her list is much longer than mine. Her face shrinks back to its tense misery.
    I clear my throat. “Boring, I think.”
    She looks at me sharply. “Do you really mean that?” She studies my face, looking for proof. “Really?”
    “Yes,” I say. And I do. “I can barely make it through the movie. God, what if that was my life? The horror!” I make an exaggerated face. She doesn’t respond. “Boring.” I say again, firmly.
    She turns back toward the movie, and lets out a little sound. In a normal person I would say it’s a sigh, but this is Jo. She’s too tough for that. The only sigh-like noises she makes are in frustration – usually at me.
    “Yeah,” she finally agrees. “Boring.”
    We sit through the rest of the movie in silence.
     
    My eyes flick from the DVD back to Jo. She doesn’t look nearly as pissed off and actually smiles wryly. “I promised that in the next movie lots of people would die.”
    I can’t help it, I laugh. “Because the boat sinks.” I roll my eyes. “Not exactly what I had in mind.”
    “Yeah, well, for some reason, the admins weren’t comfortable with Bloodspill VI. ” Jo says dryly and scoots up to a sitting position. “Seriously though, Meda. I need you to behave.” She holds up a hand to forestall my inevitable whinging. “I know it’s not easy, but it’ll get easier, I promise. They’re just testing you right now, to prove that you can be trusted. You just have to sit tight a little longer.”
    I pick up the DVD case and fiddle with it, popping it open and clicking it closed as if considering it, but I already know I’m going to cave. Once again I’ll grin and bear it.
    “If you had any idea all the things I wanted to do, and didn’t, you’d give me some credit.” I grumble. Alright, maybe more sulk and bear it. But still.
    Jo, sensing her victory, pushes her advantage. “I need you to try harder. No fights, no sneaking out, especially not to murder anyone.”
    She locks her eyes on me, but I’m not ready to give in quite yet. “I really don’t see what the big deal is.” I grumble. “We made it back fine. No one will ever know.”
    And that, of course, is when the sirens begin to wail.

Chapter 6
    Jo pales and our eyes meet.
    “It’s not about us,” I say with false bravado.  “No one saw us.”
    “What if we left some sign?” Her eyes frantically flick back and forth as she tries to think. “Or were caught on a camera?”
    My mind flies back along our trail. I close my eyes so I can picture it, trying to remember if we went by any cameras.  I open them. “Jo, we didn’t–”
    “Shhhhh–” she flaps her hand at me. The siren reaches the end of its wail, then the beeping begins. It’s a Morse-like code to let everyone know what type of situation we’re in.  We both hold our breath.
    Long, long, long.
    I let out a breath. It’s not a breach. If it were about us, it’d be long-short-short.  But then Jo grabs my arm, and I realize it’s not good either.  
    Long-long-long means “in-coming”.  There’s a large group coming up the mountain – and we’ve got to get into position.
    In the event of an attack, all the students are to consolidate in the partially completed school. At its center is basically a bunker, a heavily fortified building that contains the headquarters, the infirmary, and stairs into the escape routes below. This is the only part that is actually complete.  Surrounding that are the half-built cement walls that are going to be rings of maze-like hallways.  When the school is complete, if it’s ever attacked, the Crusaders will be able to retreat, ring by ring, into tighter, more defensible spaces.  It’s layered like an onion, and ugly enough to make the artist in me cry.
    In the distance, I hear the pounding