Page 73 of Faerie Trials

Part of me was positive she’d ignore the warning. But something I said must have gotten through to her. Or maybe it was the look on my face. The way she could see, clearly, that I wasn’t lying to her.

“Yeah,” I said when she began to shake. “Exactly. I’m here to make sure nothing happens to you today, because the person behind the attacks seems to be using the Trials to make his move. And I…” I swallowed. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Coral was trembling, shaking her head and refusing to look at me. “No. No, you’re wrong.”

“I’m here to keep you safe.”

“It’s ridiculous,” she argued, twin blossoms of red on her cheeks now. “Why would someone want to hurtme?”

Did she need me to count the reasons? I rolled my eyes. “I can’t speak for motives, obviously. I’m not inside his head. All I know is that this guy is dangerous and it’s likely he’ll try to come after you today. It’s the only reason I’m with you right now.”

“That’s it.” Coral threw her hands in the air. “I’m dropping out of this Trial. I’m going back to the school and then I’m going home. At least there I’ll be safe from the riffraff.”

By which she clearly meant me.

“Hey, hold on. It’s okay.”

She pressed a hand to her chest. “Do I look like a victim, Tavi? Do I look like the kind of girl murderers hunt for sport? Absolutely not. I’m taking myself out of the equation. He’d have to be insane to come into my house. Ergo, if I’m in my house, then I’m safe and away from the crazies.”

The way she said it, I knew she was lumping me into thecraziespart as well.

“No,” I repeated. “You and I are going to get through this Trial. We’re going to finish what we started and we’re going to win. Together. I won’t let anything happen to you.” If she thought her bad attitude would keep me from sticking by her side, then she’d better think again. The bad attitude would make it difficult but I always saw things through to the end. Period.

Coral scoffed. “What the hell canyoudo about it, half-breed? You barely managed to get through the Summer Games. It’s a wonder you’ve made it this far into the Trials without having to rely on Michael to pull you through. It’s bad enough the school had to assign you a tutor just to pass your classes.”

It took everything inside of me to rein in my temper. Bristling, I faced her head on. “Look,” I said through gritted teeth, “we’re wasting time. Right now, we both have the pieces we need to make a weapon. Let’s get a move on because we are wasting time.”

She heard what I didn’t say.I’m not going anywhere.You’re stuck with me.

Coral had her hands on her hips again, staring at me, willing me to back down until she had her way. “Tavi—”

“If you say my name like that one more time, I’m going to leave you alone and let this guy have you,” I warned. “Trust me when I say I want to keep you safe.”

“I don’t understand why you care.”

“Neither do I. But through it all, you’re really…you’re really not a bad person.” I died a little inside saying it. “You don’t deserve to be murdered. I’ve seen what the killer has done to his other victims. It’s not pretty.” Yes, I’d seen firsthand what he was capable of doing.

Her finger was back in the air and waving around like a wand. “Just stay out of my way,” she insisted.

I wrestled with my conscience for a moment. Maybe she was right and I should leave her alone. It would be much easier going forward. Easier on my mind, my head, the outcome of this Trial…

No. That felt wrong.

“Gladly,” I answered her, and my voice had lost all of its charm.

As Mike had done for me, and I got a lot of personal satisfaction out of it, I pushed Coral to keep her going. She huffed angrily and sped up her steps to keep a full six feet ahead of me.

We’d never been advised where to go for the next step of the Trial. I only assumed we would face obstacles along the way. We walked along the sunlit path, new leaves on the trees and purple crocuses sprouting out of the ground.

“I’m not sure why you’re even bothering with me.” Coral twisted her neck to look back over her shoulder at me.

“Yeah, I’m not sure either.”

“Why don’t you let the authorities handle this murderer? I mean, if he’s as dangerous as you say, then what canyoudo?”

I kept silent, listening to the sound of our footsteps.

I didn’t need her to tell me how she felt about me. She might as well have had a sign above her head:tavi is useless.

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