“This is too important to mess up,” I whispered. The truth sat like a ball of molten lava in my stomach. Life was dangerous out there for all kids. They had to be able to defend themselves. “All right. Who wants to go—Motherfuckingshit.” A sharp burn ran through my finger, and I couldn’t stop the curse from flying out as I shook my hand.

A couple of shocked gasps came from my students.

“Sorry. I…” I glanced at Roan, not sure how to fix this.

Roan looped his arm with mine. “One second. Gotta talk strategy with my girl before we start.” Roan dragged me toward the makeshift locker room.

“We’ll be right back,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the class. “Try doing bunkai number eight to stay warm. Yvette? You help lead.”

Yvette nodded, her chin lifting up as she stepped forward to take charge. “You got it.”

That gave us a second, and by the look on Roan’s face, I was about to get an earful.

“Jesus. You’re going to get us killed,” Roan whispered as soon as we were through the curtain. At least he wasn’t mad enough to start yelling. If anyone—even one of my students—found out I was a halfer, we’d both be as good as dead. “The implant still bothering you?”

“Bothering is too nice of a word.” I bit down on the tip of my finger for a second, feeling the microscopic chip beneath my skin. “It feels like a hot poker is stabbing my finger. The alerts from my contact lens were bad, but I turned them off. It’s been two weeks since it was implanted, and I’m still feeling the frequency shifts.”

Roan’s eyes widened. “How often?” His voice was threaded with worry.

“It feels like every other minute, but maybe more like every ten. I thought shutting down my email would help, but… I hate it.” I spat out the words. It was the truth. I hated every damned second that this piece of shit tech sat under my skin. “I have to get it removed or I’ll end up cutting it out or—”

“No. You can’t.” His tone made it clear he wasn’t kidding around. “Not after everything we went through to get it in the first place. The fake ID. The sketchy doctor. And I could get in so much trouble if they find out I was the one who took your blood sample. No fucking way, Maité.” He stepped closer to me, and I could almost feel the heat of Roan’s anger. “We’ve talked about this. You gotta start blending in better. Most people have their neural lace implanted straight onto their brain by now, and—”

“But I’m half alien.”

“Don’t say that word.” His tone was outraged, but for no good reason.