Read Of Enemies and Endings for Free Online

to actually worry about him. Chase and George were the only warriors who could single-handedly slay squadrons of trolls or ice griffins as soon as they woke up. I knew, because Chase had been bragging about doing just that at breakfast twice in the past week.
    But if he was just out doing something stupid . . .
    I swung around a one-story house and saw the Tree of Hope ahead of me. Under it, at our usual table, was Chase. His sword lay next to his plate, but he didn’t look like he’d been in a fight. He was stuffing his face with pastries, right beside his girlfriend, Adelaide.
    He hadn’t been out on a mission, not today.

hat hard, cold knot settled back into my chest. I stood over the table and crossed my arms.
    Adelaide immediately started glaring at me. Nothing new there.
    Chase didn’t even notice. He shoved a croissant into his mouth. Flaky crumbs fell on the M3 he was watching. I recognized the mirrorcording—he’d filmed it when we rescued a seventh grader and her family from ice griffins in Denver. He stopped the image and rewound it to replay the snippet of me slashing and bashing my way through four ice griffins. He’d isolated dozens of combinations like this one. Then he broke them down into steps and taught them to the group that would be meeting in a few minutes.
    I knew all this. I knew how important learning my magic sword’s attacks had become to him. But every second I stood there, staring at the top of his head, the knot got colder and tighter.
    He should have been there this morning.
    He should have been fighting beside me, like Lena. Same as he should have been fighting on the rooftop with me a week ago, and fighting the dragons at that tenth grader’s house the week before that, and fighting those trolls at Daisy’s house last month.
    Actually, he and his girlfriend hadn’t fought beside the rest of the grade since the skirmish recorded in Chase’s M3. In May .
    Finally, Adelaide cleared her throat.
    Chase didn’t look up. He reached for another pastry. “I told you, I’m working.”
    â€œThen stop, ” I said.
    His face broke into a grin, one that took up half his face, framed by all his dimples. I didn’t understand how my stomach could flip even when I was so angry with him. I didn’t understand how he could look so happy to see me when he’d been ignoring our whole grade for months. “Hey! Look at this one. It’s a lot like the move we worked out three weeks ago, but different here.” He rewinded the mirrorcorder again, completely oblivious.
    Sometimes, he and Adelaide acted like we weren’t in the middle of a war.
    â€œWhere were you?” I hated how my voice shook.
    â€œI took him to this cute little bakery around the corner from my old house,” Adelaide said, with a touch of triumph. “They have the best croissants ever.”
    I stared at Chase, who just looked confused. The knot in my chest was so tight that it hurt to breathe.
    Rory, if you’re in trouble, I’ll always come for you, he’d said during Miriam’s quest. Just three months ago. I had expected Chase’s “always” to last longer than that.
    â€œWas I right?” called a voice behind us. Daisy stalked down the row between the houses, carrying a cardboard box toward the door to the student apartments. Conner and Kyle flanked her, carrying boxes of their own. “Were they getting coffee again?”
    Guilt flashed across Adelaide’s face. She had missed just as many fights as Chase had, but I was pretty sure she only felt bad about Daisy’s family. “Someone else is moving?” she asked, obviously hoping her friend would start talking to her again.
    Daisy just glowered at Adelaide.
    Chase slowly realized what happened. All the blood drained from his face, and he went bone white. “Who got attacked?”
    â€œMe,” I said. “The Wolfsbane