I tell my housemates what I suspect. Sabotage. Treachery. Cold-blooded murder.

It’s a lot to take in.

Telling them is a risk. I have no idea who betrayed the school. Any of them could have done it. But I can’t start mistrusting everyone. I need their help.

Dolphins focus on communication and exploration, but we also train in espionage. I want my housemates on high alert.

Halimah Nasser looks so angry I imagine steam bubbling under her hijab. “How do we find the traitor? And what do we do with them?”

“For now,” I say, “just watch and listen.”

In Irish, this is “Bígí ag faire agus ag éisteacht.” Be at your watching and listening. Again, that sums things up pretty well.

Lee-Ann Best’s face is brick red. She’s our best at counterespionage. She probably takes this news as a personal insult. She scans the faces of our classmates, no doubt assessing each of them for the potential of betrayal. “I had friends in the other grades.”

“We all did,” Jack Wu says. He lifts one eyebrow toward Dr. Hewett. “Ana, you have any idea why the professor assigned a Shark to you?”

The Shark in question, Gemini Twain, stands just out of earshot. He’s surveying the wharf for any sign of threats. I wish he didn’t take his bodyguard duties quite so seriously.

The docks aren’t crowded, but Gem gets some strange looks from the local fishermen. I guess it’s not every day they see a fourteen-year-old standing sentry with a military-grade assault rifle and two sidearms. Gem just nods at them politely and tells them good morning. They give him a wide berth.

“No clue,” I say. “Hopefully we’ll find out once we’re at sea.”

Virgil Esparza has been quietly staring at the crushed-shell pavement. Now he says, “He used to teach at Land Institute, you know.”

My shoulders tighten. “Who?”

He nods toward Dr. Hewett.

I’m so stunned I can’t remember the Irish for Are you kidding me?

“Freshmen!” Hewett calls out. “Gather up!”

I give my Dolphins one last order in ASL, tapping my temple with all four fingertips: Be alert.

We take our places. Fifteen of us make a semicircle facing Dr. Hewett: Dolphins, Cephalopods, Orcas. The Sharks stand around the perimeter, weapons ready. Gemini Twain moves to Dr. Hewett’s side, where he can both keep an eye on me and make clear that he is the dominant freshman.

Ester scratches Top’s ears. He sits next to her patiently, his brown eyes locked on Hewett as if to say, See? I can be a good boy.

To my surprise, Nelinha has managed to wash her face and reapply her makeup. How did she do that so quickly? She gives me a wink, a gesture of solidarity.

My heart hurts. I love my friends so much. I love this entire class, even the individuals I don’t like that much. I hate whoever tore our world apart.

Hewett wraps up his conversation with three HP security guards who have walked over from the pier. I guess they were on board the Varuna, keeping an eye on it until we arrived. They all look shaken. Hewett must have told them about the attack.