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My bleak ht her The indignant expression on Janco’s face was priceless He insisted on a rematch They launched into another rowdy duel Ari and I rey to continue our lesson

"So," he said in a quiet voice "What is it?"

"I--" I stopped, unsure of my answer Should I tell hie of heart? Or about host of the man I’d murdered? No Instead I asked him, "Do you think this is a waste of ti of truth Perhaps the ti washt this was a waste of tier colored Ari’s voice "You need this, Yelena"

"Why? I ht die before I even have a chance to use it"

"As I see it, you’re already good at running and hiding It took you a week to get up the nerve to talk to Maren And if it was up to you, she’d still be calling you Puker You need to learn to stand and fight for what you want" Ari fidgeted with the wooden knife, spinning it around his hand

"You hover on the edges, ready to take off if so But when you can knock the bow from Janco’s hands, and sweep my feet out from under me, you’ll be empowered" He paused, and then said, "If you feel you need to spend your ti Then the next time someone calls you Puker, you’ll have the confidence to tell her to go to hell"

I was areed or disagreed with hiht aboutelse He didn’t knohat it was, but I did: find the antidote to Butterfly’s Dust

"Is that your idea of encourage for an excuse to stop training, and trust me What else do you need?"

The quiet intensity of Ari’s voice caused a chill to ripple up ? My intentions had always been to get the antidote and run to Sitia Run away, run away, run away Ari had been right about that But running south would require me to be in top physical condition, and to have the ability to defendone important detail: Valek

He would followthe border wouldn’t ic couldn’t protect me He would consider my recapture or my death a personal responsibility And that hat I’d been so afraid to face What I’d been dancing around I’d been concentrating on training so I wouldn’t have to deal with the dileh to solve I had to enhancethe antidote, but dealing with Valek without killing hiht beat Valek with these blows" Janco puffed while blocking Maren’s bow "He’ll laugh hi you the perfect opening"

Maren remained silent, but increased the pace of her attack Janco backed off

Janco’s words stirred in an to take shape "Ari, can you teach me how to pick locks?"

He considered my words in silence Finally, he said, "Janco could"

"Janco?"

Ari so-lucky, but as a boy he got into all kinds of iven the choice of either joining the est advantage is that no one thinks he is serious, and that’s exactly what he wants"

"I’ll try and re jokes and my ribs" I watched Maren beat Janco a second time

"Best three out of five, ed "If your ego can handle it," she replied, swiping at his feet with her bow He jued The rhyth wood filled our practice room

Ari stood, assuy to face hi on the bench when Valek arrived Maren shot to her feet, as if she thought being found sitting idle was a crime, but the rest of us kept our relaxed positions I found it fascinating to watch the ses in Maren’s behavior whenever Valek was around Her rough edge softened, she se him in conversation or atactics with her, or conduct a practice, and she would preen like an alley cat attracting the biggest tom But this time he wanted to talk to me Alone The others left the room Maren shot me a dark look with the force of one of her bow strikes I would pay for this to, I hoped that he wasn’t searching for a rock to throw

"What’s wrong?" I asked hi soured to nervousness when I thought of the risk I’d be taking The idea that this host! He wasThe leak ioons at the fire festival, and Irys had knoas in the forest Margg needed to be plugged