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intend to keep your oath?”
    “Yes.”
This time she answered a little louder.
    “If
so, the best way to serve your country is to stay here and fight.”
    Ludwig
turned to face Sammy. “You can’t possibly know that.”
    Sammy
didn’t meet Ludwig’s gaze. “I do know.”
    “How?”
    “I
just do.” He sensed Jeffie watching him. Then he felt everyone else’s eyes on
him, too.
    “That’s
it? Well, thanks, now I’m reassured.” Ludwig stood back up and brushed off his
pants. All the Betas wore civilian clothes now. It was strange at first,
getting used to them again, but the effect had worn off several days ago. “I’m
getting breakfast.”
    Miguel,
Rosa, Parley, and Hefani left right behind him. Li, Strawberry, and Levu hung
back with Sammy and his four fellow recruits: Jeffie, Brickert, Natalia, and
Kawai.
    “It’s
stress,” Li said. “Don’t worry about it. We all want to go home and see family.
Check in. Let them know we’re alive.”
    Everyone
except Sammy nodded because everyone but him still had family.
    “But
Ludwig’s right about one thing,” Li added. “It’s breakfast time.”
    The
rest of the group headed for the cafeteria, leaving only Jeffie and Sammy. When
the door shut behind Strawberry, who was the last to leave, Jeffie leaned back
until her head rested on Sammy’s chest. He put his arms around her and rested
his chin on her skull so he could smell her hair. He sensed her low spirits and
held her a little tighter than normal. Even though his arm was pressed against
her stomach, he felt her heartbeat. His brain calculated that her heart rate
was sixty-one beats per minute, almost exactly at her resting average.
    “Your
chin hairs are tickling me,” she stated. “You need to start shaving.”
    “Guess
so,” he agreed. “What about you?”
    “What
about me?”
    “Aren’t
you going to start shaving, too?”
    Jeffie
wiggled against him in mock anger. Then she settled back against him and let
out a long breath. “I should apologize to Miguel. I feel bad for losing my cool.”
    “What
was that about anyway? You’ve been on edge all week.”
    “I—I
don’t know.”
    Sammy
sat up a little so he could see her face better. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ve been
through it, too. Talk to me about it.”
    “I
keep hoping—however delusional it is at this point—that we’re going to wake up
and everything will be back to normal. It’ll be the Silent War, not … World War
Three.” Jeffie rubbed her nose. “I’ll be in a bunk bed in a room with
Strawberry, not a sleeping bag in a room crammed with four girls. That—that—”
    “Kobe
and Kaden will still be alive.”
    Jeffie
nodded quickly. Her body shook slightly in his embrace as she swiped the tears
from her cheeks. Seeing her like this made his sense of guilt, always at a low
burn these days, roar to life with a fiery blaze. “Don’t feel bad, Jeffie. It’s
my fault.”
    “No,
it’s not! I slipped, Sammy. A rookie mistake. I lost my footing and got shot.
If I hadn’t … they’d both be.… ”
    “If
I hadn’t been dumb enough to let the fox lure me to Orlando—”
    “You
knew it was probably a trap, Sammy. You played it smart. And because I followed
you, we survived. We’d all be dead if you hadn’t let us come with you.”
    Sammy
closed his eyes and remembered the night a week ago. He’d had a strong feeling
that the whole situation was a setup. It hadn’t been his parents that had lured
him to Orlando, rather, his own bloodlust. His anomaly. He’d wanted a shot at
killing the Queen and Stripe in one fell swoop.
    “Miguel
blames me for his brother,” Sammy said, and realized that he blamed himself,
too.
    “No,
he blames himself. He told Domingo to stay back, not you.”
    “Then
why is he angry at me?”
     “Maybe
it’s easier.” Her voice became shaky as she sniffed. “He did what he thought
was right. I’m the only one who deserves blame.”
    “No,
you don’t.”
    “I
do! I can’t get past