Read Online Endure by Carrie Jones - Free Book Online Page B

sideways because she misjudges the distance between the steps. I catch her by the arm and she rights herself and murmurs, “Let me, ’kay?”
    “Sure,” I say. “Good luck.”
    “YO! PEOPLE! ZARA NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION!” Her voice is huge and powerful and not what I expect from super-quiet Issie.
    “Wow, Is,” I murmur as everyone turns to stare. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
    “Projection. Voice lessons in grade school.” She beams and promptly sits down. “Plus, I was trying out the Loud Person in Charge identity.”
    Her sheer cuteness makes me want to hug her, but everyone is looking at me, expectant. I am the leader here right now. Me. Weird. I clear my throat.
    “Look,” I start. “You all are doing an amazing job, but pixies are faster than humans. Pixies are trickier. They are the predator and you all are the prey. You need to be ready for that.”
    “Who says we aren’t ready?” Austin asks, all basketball-jock cocky with his foam sword by his side.
    It strikes me the wrong way. I bristle. Issie murmurs something like “uh-oh” under her breath, and I leap off the risers in one massive jump, landing softly and catlike on both feet, my knees slightly bent. Someone gasps. I take two stealthy steps toward Austin.
    “You ready?” I ask.
    “You don’t even have a weapon,” he scoffs as some people giggle.
    “The pixies won’t need them,” I explain.
    “Show-off,” Brianne Cox says.
    “He’ll totally take her,” Paul says.
    “Nope. I saw her fight the other night. She has mad skills,” Callie insists.
    I ignore them.
    “Fine,” Austin says. He raises his sword in front of him, all six feet, four inches of jock. “Show me.”
    “Be gentle, Zara!” Cassidy yells.
    In less than a second, I zip toward him. He lifts the sword and makes to lower it on my skull, but my skull is already past him. I’m behind him. He turns, but I reach up and grab his sword arm, twist it, and at the same time kick at his knees. I make sure it’s not too hard because I don’t want to actually hurt him. It’s just enough to make him lose his balance and fall. As he does, I snatch his sword away, flip it in the air, catch it again. By the time he hits the ground, I am pointing the weapon at his chest.
    He swears. Sweat beads on his forehead.
    “Holy . . . How did you do that?” Cierra is basically hero-worshipping me.
    Flushed, I step away from Austin. I don’t know how to answer as he scrambles up on his feet. He cringes like he’s embarrassed. I can smell fear coming off of him too. It smells like steak, which makes me shudder. I toss the sword back to him.
    “That’s how pixies fight,” I say, ignoring Cierra’s question. “They don’t fight fair. They fight for life or death. They fight for fun. They do not fight like you.”
    I back up, brush the hair out of my face.
    “She’s not even winded,” someone whispers.
    Sucking in my lips, I look to Issie. She takes the cue and claps her hands. “Okay. Everybody fight hard this time. Do not be afraid to bruise each other. These babies are foam. It won’t really hurt . . . too much.”
    I walk back toward the bleachers and grab the training notebook we worked on last night. It’s time for drills. We get them to line up and I shout directions: lunge, extend your sword arm, recover. We do it again and again until people are rubbing their quads.
    “With swords, when you want to kill, it’s all about closing the distance and making multiple parries,” I yell. “And when you want to survive, it is all about keeping that distance open, but always keeping your eyes on the predator. So, let’s do backward lunges this time. Pick a partner. One side offense, one defense.” I wait a second while they pair up. They are moving slowly, so tired from just a little bit of training. “Okay. Let’s go. Left side, defense. Right side, offense. Lunge. Lunge. Swords up! Swords up! Eye on the target. Faster. Lunge. Parry. Lunge.”
    “Zara.”