“But it was close,” Rito explains. “A tie vote between him and Iván. Sergeant DeLuca had to break the tie.”

Something about that makes me twitch. But I say, “Well, you couldn’t go wrong with either.”

“Anyway, once I knew I was squad leader,” Aldo says, “I arranged for a little surprise for everyone to celebrate Deliverance Day. Bruno helped me. He said we’d earned it. Seems like I ought to give it to you all now, before we head off for duty. Is that all right with you, Red? Do we have a few minutes to spare?”

“I think so, yes.”

Aldo grins. “Follow me!” As we exit the arena, he says, “I’m really glad to see you, Red.”

“Nice sword,” says Pedrón. “Can I hold it?”

“No! Get your own.”

“Where did you go after you left?” Iván asked.

“To the monastery. To . . .” I almost say “to pray,” but that would be a bold-faced lie. “To find some peace.”

He gives me a strange look.

Aldo leads us to the latrine and gestures for us to go inside.

“Really?” says Pedrón. “The latrine?”

“Sorry, but yes,” Aldo says with a sheepish grin. “There wasn’t enough space in the bunk room.”

We file in. The smell is terrible, way worse than usual, as though the latrine hasn’t been maintained all day.

“Aldo, what are you talking about?” Rito says. “There’s nothing—”

The door slams shut behind us. The bar latch thuds down, locking us in.

23

Now

I’M attacking the door, pounding with hands and feet, yelling for Aldo, even as my mind parses what just happened.

“Aldo, this isn’t funny!” Pedrón calls out.

“Yes, this is a very bad time for a prank,” yells Arturo.

“It’s not a prank,” Iván says darkly.

“Aldo!” I’m practically screaming. “What are you doing?”

Something heavy scrapes across the stone floor outside, plunks against the door.

“What was that?” asks Luca.

I step back from the door. I don’t realize tears are streaming down my face until a drop of wetness hits my collarbone. “He’s blocking us in,” I say. “He’s probably dragging cots and nightstands over, anything he can find. He has betrayed us.”

“Why?” says Rito.

“Why?” I echo, louder, my mouth to the door. “Aldo, why are you doing this?”

Finally a muffled voice reaches us. “All you had to do was eat breakfast today. But no, you just had to tell everyone not to eat or drink. So I had to improvise.”

I whirl on Iván. “Everyone heeded your warning?”

“Most of them.”

“I’m really hungry,” Pedrón says.

“What about the rest of the Guard? Second years? Bruno’s people? The barracks were oddly quiet when I got here.”

“I don’t know,” Iván says. “I suspect that whoever heard the rumor had a choice, and some people made the choice to eat and drink and some didn’t.”

“The Guards at the entrance,” I say. “I didn’t recognize them.”