Page 26 (1/1)

I rong about the pain being worth it The lightning bolt of agony toppledfor air and flat on my back

Ash stood over me, honey-colored eyes full of conte as the pain and his footsteps receded "No, not useless"

It took everything I had to get to my feet and make my way to my roo to remove my weapons Griffin’s voice echoed in le word over and over until I reen hovered behind my eyelids as I drifted off, and I slept, deep and drea caed on roan "Go away"

"Hurry up, you’ve got to see this!" Blosso your father in to seal it up"

That got ru one by one,that had happened the day before

I stood, and ave a faint protest Daht it would

I e of it The entire floor had collapsed, a hole that ran around the edges of the room so that there was barely room to stand A sinkhole My eyes widened as I peered down, into the cavern No bottom that I could see Just like the hole I’d wanted to drop Ash into; but this couldn’t have beento the left of me, shook his head "Aren’t many who could pull this off" He never even looked atin the entrancewayhis eyes landed onwas if this had beenpiece of doubt curled around low behind ht before My father raised his hands over his head, the power clinging to hireen, the air around hith froroith each second that passed until it surrounded his body He was our king, my father And his blood ran in htened a little I didn’t dare to believe I would ever be as strong as him, but maybe soon he would see I wasn’t powerless, useless

"That’s alance

"He hasn’t done anything yet"

I sed e and the ground below us rumbled in answer The earth bucked and filled in the hole, as if the soil ater, sloshing and gushing upward I stepped back froe as the cavern slowly disappeared

"Granite, I would speak with you We have word from the eastern front, I may have to send" my father’s words slipped away as he turned with Granite at his side The rest of us stared at the newly h my father had fixed the hole, I didn’t truly trust it would hold up if we stepped onto it

Blossom ca up tolike that?"

I shook my head "No, never"

There were h breakfast and until we started to train, at which point Granite put an end to the talk

He tucked his hands into his belt loops, a gris"

The Enders working with us grinned as a unit

"About tirin that was in no way nice

If he was happy, ere in deep wor up their arms as they drew a lot of power More than I’d ever seen thelohichWhy would the color change? Shouldn’t it have stayed green regardless of what they were doing?

My thoughts scattered as a blow hit ht betweenup with my spear in my hands In front of me stood a man, only it wasn’t a man, it was a contrivance of a man made up of dirt and clay It had teeth, but they were broken shards of glass and rock, and eyes s and arms were thick and blocky, but it still moved with the fluidity of a predator Hands tipped in uneven sizes of rocks, es are excellent training tools, you can’t hurt them, and you can’t kill therunts and s advanced on the recruits "You ith them for the rest of the day Mal, the queen has asked to see you, go to her and then cohtened and I shook my head The queen liked to have her ‘own Enders’ The fact that she was interviewing already shouldn’t have surprised me She often took the we all knew

Blossom was beside me as aited for further instructions The look on her face, though, was enough toHer brown eyes followed Mal all the way to the door, the pain in them as obvious as if she’d painted the word on her forehead So, that was hoas between thele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">