Page 14 of Enchanted Shadows
The way Elsie grabbed her jug, holding it by the handle in defeat, and clomped toward the barracks, made me feel low.
“Hold up, Elsie.”
Her feet shuffled to a stop, though she didn’t turn around. Probably not wanting me to see her cry.
“This is not the real trial run,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
There were a few comments, and it was hard to keep straight from what direction it was coming from.
“I wanted you to treat it as real. I wanted to see what you’d do. How you would handle the pressure. Neither Elsie or Aletta are kicked out. At least not yet.”
Elsie turned to look at me in shock. Aletta seemed more confused.
“You two have a second chance. And only one. What you choose to do with it is up to you.”
Elsie’s voice was strained as she asked, “So I’m not out?”
“No. I don’t think having the official first trial run after only seven days is exactly fair.”
“So when will it be, then?” Viv snapped from where she sat on the ground.
“Two weeks.” I gestured to her ankle. I needed to get her to the healers to see what they said. “We have two weeks to get you healed.”
Molly and Sam ran for Elsie and Aletta to congratulate them. While I turned to find Zara before me, hands on her hips, an angry furrow between her eyes.
“So I busted my butt for nothing?”
I didn’t hesitate. “No. You saved a team member. I would never consider that nothing.”
She shook her head in anger.
I turned over my shoulder and said, “No balance drills today. Head for the showers. Good job to all of you. A week ago, I think half of you wouldn’t have made it. Today there were only two. It is likely in two weeks that all of you can make it.”
Before she could leave, I added, “Zara, stay back for a moment.”
She did, hands still perched on her hips.“What?”
“First of all,” I began, my anger flaring to match hers, “I am damn proud of you for the way you went after Vivian.”
My angry compliment surprised her. And me a little, too.
“Second, I don’t appreciate you snapping at me for giving those two women a second chance. Like it or not, all of you believing this was real helped me to see what you would truly do. Like how you didn’t even hesitate to go after Viv.”
She inhaled deeply.
The anger in my voice was going nowhere. “Third, do you have any idea what you just did?”
“What I just did?” she repeated, looking at me like I was a crazed lunatic.
I pointed to the starting and finishing line. “Yes. That.”
“Well, I thought I was saving Viv from being eliminated from the team, but I was being lied to.”
That’s right. This woman had some serious trust issues.
