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Kelessi for Advisory, room thirty-five. Do you remember where that is?”
    I nodded.
    “Your locker is in the senior wing, number ninety. The combination is on the last page of your packet.”
    “Thirty-five, Kelessi, ninety. Got it, thanks.”
    I turned and looked up from my paperwork. The other people in the office lined the walls, giving me a wide berth.
    Did I forget to wear deodorant or something?
    I scooted from the room and exhaled as I reached the glorious chaos in the lobby.
    The mad dash to Advisory should have wrapped me in a blanket of normalcy—until I realized people were staring. And not just a few people. I’m talking everyone. Breakfast did a little flip in my stomach. I wasn’t just Jess anymore. I was that girl who found the alien. I was the one .
    Maybe normal would take a bit longer to reach than I’d hoped.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    I settled into a chair in Ms. Kelessi’s room and looked over my schedule: 9:00 gym and 10:30 lunch. Who did I tick off to deserve that?
    Someone skidded into the seat beside me. At least one person didn’t think I had alien cooties.
    Matt Samuels, my only good friend besides Maggie, stared back at me. “How you holding up, slugger?”
    “I’m okay. Glad to be back.”
    “You mean you’re not bored? I’d think after running from the Army and facing down a few thousand spaceships, school would be a bit passé.”
    The tension dropped from my shoulders. Good old Matt. No matter what the reason, Matt could always put me at ease, cracking jokes even after Bobby had beaten him up for taking me out to a movie last year.
    After a bloody nose and a swollen eye, I would have heeded Bobby’s warning and stayed away. Not Matt, though. He’d never given up on our friendship, and I loved him for it.
    “Ms. Martinez?” Ms. Kelessi hung her phone up on the wall. “They want to see you in the office.”
    Huh? I hadn’t been back at school long enough to be in trouble. Matt gave me a reassuring grin as I gathered my things and headed out the door.

4
     
     
    The secretary pointed me in the direction of the principal’s office. I flushed. Maybe I had done something wrong. My sweaty palm slipped on the knob as I opened the door. What could he possibly need to talk to me about?
    A huge figure spun toward me as I entered the room. I gasped, and my heart jumped into my chest as I came face to face with General Baker in full dress uniform. Hat and everything. What was Maggie’s father doing here?
    “Ms. Martinez,” the principal said from behind the desk. “Please come in.”
    I eased into the room. The sound of the door clicking behind me echoed like a tap of Death’s scythe.
    An MP stood at ease in the corner. A woman with flowing golden curls standing beside him lifted her eyes. My breath hitched.
    “I’m told you already know Nematali Carash,” the general said.
    I was drawn back to the woods two months ago—to the night David almost froze to death, but was saved by an alien with curly blond hair.
    I stared at her, gaping. It couldn’t be. “Blondie?”
    “Hello, little one.”
    A knot formed in my chest. I threw my arms around her. A faint smell of pine wafted from her hair. “I thought you were dead. They killed you, didn’t they?”
    Nematali shook her head. “No. Although I admit, I thought my life was over when I was captured.” She lowered her eyes. “But I was freed with the others before the ships left.” Her stance straightened slightly. “As promised, I stood beside Tirran Coud when he addressed the council.”
    Tirran—David’s alien name. Tirran Coud Sabba-something-or-other. So she’d fulfilled her promise. She’d stood up there with David and begged for humanity’s right to survive. She was now definitely on the top of my list of coolest aliens ever.
    Well, behind David, of course.
    I realized I was still hugging her, but she wasn’t hugging back. Awkward much? I released my grip. “So, what’s going on?”
    “The Erescopian Good Will