Chapter 362

XENOIS Ollie settled into the corner with what looked like a deck of cards and some kind of notebook. Riley and Lake joined him, the three of them immediately absorbed in whatever activity they'd been working on. "What are they doing?" I asked suspiciously. "Learning valuable life skills," my father said vaguely. "Don't worry about it." "That's not reassuring." "It's not meant to be reassuring," my mother said. "It's meant to be vague enough that you can't technically complain about anything specific. Now, what's the problem? We heard groaning and frustration from downstairs and decided to investigate." "The problem," I said, "is that we're trying to build a coalition to counter Jerome's conspiracy, and eight of the alphas we've contacted have refused to cooperate. They'd rather maintain traditional isolation than work together for mutual defense." My mother and father exchanged glances—one of those wordless communications that came from decades of marriage. "Which eight?" my father as