Caither is asleep when I leave for breakfast; I didn't hear her come in last night, and I'm glad I don't have to talk to her now. I'm not sure what I'd say to the girl who might have a big part in my execution.

The execution that will happen if I don't rank high enough.

Which I'm so sure is the case, I almost can't bring myself to go down to breakfast and face my friends for the final time. But with the alternative being that I stay in my room until Caither wakes, I choose to spend my last hour with people I actually like.

As I near D-hall, I notice Hejae and Anders standing off to the side of the door. Their heads are bent toward each other, but as Hejae's eyes slide over Anders's shoulder and lock with mine, he halts the conversation with a quick shush.

Anders turns, and they both watch me. Anders gives me a dark smile, then says to Hejae, "Just think about it."

He winks at me then goes into D-hall. Hejae gives me a tight nod before descending the stairs. I'm sure he's heading to the conference room, where the floor leaders are meeting with Ritter and the Kuzabn Masters to discuss our placements.

My placement. Or my death sentence.

I force the terror from my face before I reach our table with my bowl of cereal; Eveia, Wick, and Kaz are already there.

"You look terrible," Eveia says, then smiles at me.

"I didn't sleep well." Again, I'm not sure why I don't confide in Eveia and Wick. Especially now that Kaz knows the special circumstances around my remaining with the Kuzabn. Maybe because if Eveia or Wick show even half of the apprehension I'm choking on, I'll lose my grip on my sanity.

Wick breaks the mounting tension. "So as I was saying: she steals Briar's knife and whips it at this kid's head."

"Are you talking about me? I am sitting right here," I say. I don't want to relive my poor choices.

He pretends to ignore me. "Then, she pretends like she meant to miss."

"I did mean to. I didn't want to kill him."

"She's all 'sorry Sharki-poo, my mistake. Briari-bear, tell him I'm an angel'." Wick bats his eyelashes and raises his voice to a terrible, breathy imitation of mine. He makes a kissy face when he's done speaking. Eveia and Kaz laugh.

"They were filling me in on the events after I left the party," Kaz says.

"Well, they're telling it wrong." I cross my arms, pouting, but inside I'm feeling lighter. Whatever the rankings, I can't forget how great my friends are. "I was aiming for the wall beside Milo's head. And I wasn't that fake."

Wick nods enthusiastically. "And then Briar whisked you away on his white horse to save the day."

I give up. "That he did," I say with an eye roll.

I eat the rest of my meal in silence, listening to Eveia and Wick talk about their families, savoring this time.

*

The auditorium is pretty full when we arrive for Second Rankings, but we manage to find four seats near each other. Wick and Kaz take two seats behind Eveia and me, and they amuse themselves by tapping our shoulders or flicking our ears, then looking quickly in the opposite direction.

"Alright, children, that's enough." Eveia stands and turns, arm pulled back, ready to knock some sense into whichever one most recently annoyed her.

Ritter takes the stage then, which is lucky for the boys. He begins by congratulating us on making it this far, and repeats the same ranking procedure as last time. Then he gets to the good stuff.

Kaz's name is mentioned almost immediately.

"Kazimir Bancroft. Ranking third. Kiira."

I think all of our jaws drop collectively. First because Kaz came in so high, and because Kiira stole him from Shark.

"Guess you're moving up in the world," Wick says as Kaz stands. "Get it? Cause she's two floors above Shark?"

Kaz pushes Wick's head down then exits into the aisle. Eveia rolls her eyes. "Really, Wick? You're hilarious."

We don't wait very much longer before:

"Wick Asenzo. Ranked seventeenth. Kiira."

"Aw, Wick, you could be roommates with Kaz," I say. I almost miss my name.

"Nadia JustNadia. Ranked eighteenth. Hejae."

I'm positive I misheard Ritter. Then Eveia shakes my shoulder, grinning, and I accept this is real. And I truly savor the declaration. Hejae's floor doesn't surprise me. But eighteenth? Not only am I so relieved that I actually ranked that I could pass out, I'm secretly thrilled that I beat Eveia. She's not far behind though. I'm not all the way out of the auditorium when I hear:

"Eveia Grimauld. Ranked twentieth. Briar."

I'm glad. She's good with weapons and Briar deserves to have someone fantastic in my place.

Wick and I wait for Eveia to join us outside the auditorium, then we head up to grab our things from our respective floors. We agree to meet at our table in D-Hall for lunch after our floor meetings before heading to our separate rooms.

It's not difficult to find a seat in Hejae's classroom, considering there are only two other people here when I arrive. Hejae grins at me when I walk past his desk, but I pretend I don't notice. Maybe I should be thankful I have a floor, but after the strange incident before breakfast, there's a strong sense of distrust rolling around my gut.

I smile to myself when I realize I've started to adopt Eveia's perspective.

Finally, three others trickle in before Hejae closes the door. My stomach clenches when Anders is one of them. I do not feel comfortable sleeping on the same floor as him. I may even have to ask Briar for my razor back, if only for protection.

"Looks like that's all of us," Hejae says.

I glance around. The other floors have twenty recruits. There are only six people on Hejae's floor. Three girls, three boys. Or, two boys and a spake. Anders looks at me, and I can't help smiling at his two blackened eyes.

"You each have your own room," Hejae says. "As well as a pretty nearly unlimited supply of hot water, as you're sharing amongst the six of you, rather than twenty." He smiles at us, as if we are the luckiest kids in the world.

"Now then, I'll briefly go over the itinerary for the week." He passes out papers with the entire recruit schedule on them. "Tomorrow, you'll be with me all day."

I try not to groan as I look at the schedule in front of me. This week seems pretty specialized depending on floor. I don't want to think about all the weapons training I could be missing.

"Tuesday and Wednesday, you'll be 'infiltrating' the other floors, so to speak. You'll be split into twos and threes for most of those classes, so your instructors don't get too overwhelmed with extra bodies. But you'll get your chance to train with the others." Hejae's eyes flit to mine, as if this statement is a peace offering. "Thursday, you'll get to free train, then that afternoon we'll have our final meeting."

I do cheer up a little when I realize not only will I still get to train with the other instructors, it also seems like I'll be grouped with all my friends at varying times. Maybe this won't be so bad.

"Monday, I hope you will show up with an open mind. The things I will teach you may not seem practical at the moment, but they could end up saving your life. Any questions?"

I glance around, but no one puts up a hand. It all seems pretty straightforward. Then I remember Briar's rules.

Hejae's eyes dance as he calls on me, ready, perhaps, to win me back over.

"I guess I don't remember; do you have any floor rules?"

Hejae's smile is self-satisfied. "Absolutely not. You all are adults; I trust you can make responsible decisions without me restricting your fun."

It's a jab at the way Briar approaches floor leadership, and I find myself feeling defensive. Briar cares enough to do what he can to keep us out of trouble, even if it means a few kids not liking him as much.

But then I remember I have an entire room to myself and no rules about it, so my friends could visit well past eleven o'clock, with the door closed, and I perk up a bit. I think of yesterday, of kissing Kaz. I think of my newly empty room and I become nervous and excited and curious all at once.

I try to rid myself of these thoughts on my way up to D-Hall. I don't want any of my friends questioning my blush, or worse, Kaz figuring out he's the culprit.

Eveia is the first to join me at our table.

"Wow, Briar's a real stickler for rules, isn't he?" She slumps into the seat next to me.

"Ah, yes," I say, "I remember the days when I had to abide by rules and share my room."

Eveia stares at me. "Seriously? You don't have a roommate?"

"Apparently Hejae's floor is very elite. Only six of us on it." I sip my drink regally. I avoid mentioning Anders is one of the six. There's nothing anyone can do about it, other than remind me what I already know—not to trust him, not to let him anywhere near me.

"I kind of hate you." Eveia shakes her head as Wick and Kaz join us. "You know this spake gets her own room?"

I shrug nonchalantly. "There are only six of us. Hey, you guys should sneak down and live on my floor!"

"And just how would we all fit in your room?" Kaz says. "I suppose we'd have to share beds." He grins watching my face redden. I look away from him.

"Easy tiger," Wick says. "We've been roommates for an hour and you're already trying to get a piece of this." He holds up his hands. "I know, I'm irresistible, but simmer down."

I laugh at Wick. "I meant in the empty rooms."

"Wait, so there really are empty rooms?" Wick eyes Eveia, who grins in response to whatever she sees in his eyes. "That could be worth checking out."

"Oh, definitely," she says.

"We'd have to be very quiet." He's still looking at Eveia, who raises an eyebrow.

"Please, I can be so quiet."

Wick shakes his head. "I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into."

The way their eyes have lit up, the way they look at one another like no one in the world can see them, I suspect they're not just speaking about sneaking onto Hejae's floor.

Wick confirms my embarrassed conclusion when he says, "Girl, I will make you scream."

I look away from them, mortified, and catch Kaz's eye.

"Apparently, I'll have an extra bed in my room, if you need to escape the racket," he says.

Warmth rushes through me again at the idea of sleeping so close to him.

"I may have to take you up on that, with the way these two are drooling over each other." I throw my roll at Eveia.

"Worse comes to worse, I can join you in your misery." Kaz looks at me with too much familarity.

"Or we could see who's louder." Wick nudges Kaz.

I'm afraid my face might explode from the amount of blood suddenly flooding my cheeks. How can Wick joke so freely about sex?

"Aw, stop it you guys." Eveia notices my face. "Nadia's about to cry."

"No, I'm not." But I can feel tears of embarrassment stinging my eyes. I put my head down on my arms.

A hand pats my elbow. "It's ok, Nadia," Eveia says. "They were just teasing. If you're not into sex, that's cool."

"Oh, my goodness, just stop talking about it!" I say into the table.