way it had when it didn't want to disagree with me. "Whatever they were, they were moving along with you and your group."
"Guys, I'm tired," I said, because I didn't want to think about any of this anymore, and if I did think about it anymore - about the idea that some pack of creatures was following us in the trees - I might have a collapse right there in the common area. "Can we have this conversation tomorrow?"
"As you wish, Zoe," Hickory said.
"Thank you," I said, and started shuffling off toward my cot. "And remember what I said about not telling my parents."
"We will not tell your parents," Hickory said.
"And remember what I said about not following me," I said. They said nothing to this. I waved at them tiredly and went off to sleep.
I found Enzo outside his family's tent the next morning, reading a book.
"Wow, a real book," I said. "Who did you kill to get that?"
"I borrowed it from one of the Mennonite kids," he said. He showed the spine to me. "Huckleberry Finn. You heard of it?"
"You're asking a girl from a planet named Huckleberry if she's heard of Huckleberry Finn," I said. I hoped the incredulous tone of my voice would convey amusement.
Apparently not. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't make the connection." He flipped the book open to where he had been reading.
"Listen," I said. "I wanted to thank you. For what you did last night."
Enzo looked up over his book. "I didn't do anything last night."
"You stayed behind Gretchen and me," I said. "You put yourself between us and whatever was following us. I just wanted you to know I appreciated it."
Enzo shrugged. "Not that there was anything following us after all," he said. I thought about telling him about what Hickory told me, but kept it in. "And when something did come out at you, it was ahead of me. So I wasn't much help, actually."
"Yeah, about that," I said. "I wanted to apologize for that. For the thing with Dickory." I didn't really know how to put that. I figured saying Sorry for when my alien bodyguard very nearly took your head off with a knife wouldn't really go over well.
"Don't worry about it," Enzo said.
"I do worry about it," I said.
"Don't," Enzo said. "Your bodyguard did its job." For a second it seemed like Enzo would say something more, but then he cocked his head and looked at me like he was waiting for me to wrap up whatever it was I was doing, so he could get back to his very important book.
It suddenly occurred to me that Enzo hadn't written me any poetry since we landed on Roanoke.
"Well, okay then," I said, lamely. "I guess I'll see you a little later, then."
"Sounds good," Enzo said, and then gave me a friendly wave and put his nose into Huck Finn's business. I walked back to my tent and found Babar inside and went over to him and gave him a hug.
"Congratulate me, Babar," I said. "I think I just had my first fight with my boyfriend."
Babar licked my face. That made it a little better. But not much.
PART II Chapter Fourteen
"No, you're still too low," I said to Gretchen. "It's making you flat. You need to be a note higher or something. Like this." I sang the part I wanted her to sing.
"I am singing that," Gretchen said.
"No, you're singing lower than that," I said.
"Then you're singing the wrong note," Gretchen said. "Because I'm singing the note you're singing. Go ahead, sing it."
I cleared my throat, and sang the note I wanted her to sing. She matched it perfectly. I stopped singing and listened to Gretchen. She was flat.
"Well, nuts," I said.
"I told you," Gretchen said.
"If I could pull up the song for you, you could hear the note and sing it," I said.
"If you could pull up the song, we wouldn't be trying to sing it at all," Gretchen said. "We'd just listen to it, like civilized human beings."
"Good point," I said.
"There's nothing good about it," Gretchen said. "I swear to you, Zoe. I knew coming to a colony world was going to be hard. I was ready for that. But if I knew they were going to take my PDA, I might have just stayed back on Erie. Go ahead, call me shallow."
"Shallow," I said.
"Now tell me I'm wrong," Gretchen said. "I dare you."
I didn't tell her she was wrong. I knew how she felt. Yes, it