Read Online A Faerie's Secret (Creepy Hollow Book 4) by Rachel Morgan - Free Book Online

the other side. I run to it, telling myself how easy it will be to crawl through and get to her. I place my hands on either side of the opening and get ready to crouch down.
    But I can’t. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t . Panic sets in as I imagine the concrete closing in on me, squeezing tighter and tighter, trapping me until there is no air, no light, no way out. My throat constricts. My breath shortens.
    I back away, forcing myself to breathe deeply in and out. I’ll navigate the deadly shards of broken building signage if I have to, but I won’t crawl into that tunnel. I hurry away from it. The ground shudders once more. A jagged line races toward me, splitting the road in half. I jump out of its path and land against the side of a car. The concrete pipe rolls to one side, and the sign slides to the other. I see the girl clearly now, further ahead and on the other side of the chasm that divides the road. Behind her, a car goes up in flames. The shuddering ground keeps tilting, its gradient increasing, and the burning car and surrounding rubble begin rolling toward the girl.
    I run at the chasm and leap with all my might. I need to knock the girl out the way. I need to reach the other side of the chasm. But it’s wider than I thought, and instead of landing on the other side, I find myself falling, falling, falling. Arms flailing. Darkness growing.
    And then it’s all gone. I’m lying on my back blinking up at the white wisps of the Fish Bowl’s surface, my body shaking and my breath coming in quick gasps. I sit up and look around the empty orb.
    I’ve failed. Day one as a real trainee, with who knows how many of my classmates watching on, and I’ve failed.
    Dammit.
    I pound my fist against the floor before standing. That stupid concrete pipe. Why did that have to be the only way to the girl? Why did I have to freeze instead of calmly crawling through it? Surely I’m old enough now to move past this ridiculous fear.
    Apparently not.
    I stride toward the edge of the orb and push my way through the vaporous barrier. On the other side, I try not to meet anyone’s gaze. Why are people standing around? Don’t they have their own training to do?
    “Do you want to go again?” someone calls to me. I look around and up and find the setting designer peering down at me with raised eyebrows. “You’ve still got plenty of time left in this session,” she says.
    “Uh, no.” I back away. “I’m feeling a little lightheaded. I’m just going to … sit down.” I turn and almost walk into Saskia.
    “Wow, that was impressive,” she says as I jerk to a halt. “You lasted, what, a whole two minutes?”
    “Stop being such a troll, Saskia,” Gemma says, walking up to us with her arms folded over her chest.
    “Hey, I’m just stating the facts. Miss Nepotism wants us to believe she’s guardian material, but she can’t even make it through a solo experience in the Fish Bowl.”
    “Miss Nepotism?” I demand. I’m frustrated enough as it is without this girl implying that the only reason I’m here is because my brother is on the Council.
    “Yeah, you know, it means—”
    “I know what it means,” I snap. “And I’ll have you know that the Council— before my brother was invited to be a member—laid out a long list of requirements for me, and I passed every single one . So I have just as much right to be here as you do.”
    “It’s not the same,” she says sulkily.
    “Fine.” I grit my teeth to keep my temper in along with the images of me knocking Saskia clear across the room. Don’t let anyone see that. Do NOT let anyone see that. After making sure the disturbing images aren’t about to be broadcast across the training center, I ask, “What exactly is it going to take to make you accept that I belong here?”
    She purses her lips and taps her chin. “Well, there is the initiation the rest of us went through.”
    Gemma throws her hands up. “That’s so stupid. She doesn’t have to do