Read Of Enemies and Endings for Free Online Page A

clan.”
    â€œOh,” Adelaide said with relief. “I thought it was Candice.”
    â€œCandice moved two weeks ago,” said Conner, like he couldn’t believe Adelaide was so out of the loop.
    â€œYeah. We’re the only ones in our grade who haven’t moved here yet,” Kyle said.
    That wasn’t completely true. Alvin Collins—the Character who had just joined our grade at Christmas—had moved to Hong Kong with his family and transferred to the Asian chapter of Ever After School.
    We never mentioned him though, or any of the other families who fled as far as they could to avoid the Snow Queen.
    â€œMaybe Dad will finally change his mind and let us move,” Conner said hopefully.
    â€œWhy didn’t anyone tell me?” Chase said, like he was ticked off. He had no right.
    â€œHow? No one could find you.” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice this time. I could feel Kyle, Conner, and Daisy staring at me. So much for convincing them that I wasn’t upset.
    Chase’s face paled even more. I didn’t know that was possible. “I left my M3 in my room. I just ran up to get it.”
    I wanted to lay into him. I wanted to tell him that he’d been as flaky and self-centered as his girlfriend. I wanted to say that we were depending on him and that he kept letting us down.
    The others would back me up. That was the problem. The rest of the rising ninth graders were losing patience with these two. If I let loose on them, the others would do the same. It would break our whole grade apart, and we couldn’t afford that.
    Chase was part of the Triumvirate. He, Lena, and I were stronger together, just like Rikard, Madame Benne, and Maerwynne—the first Triumvirate, the one that had founded the Canon—had been.
    We needed him, or otherwise, the Snow Queen really would win.
    I took a deep breath. The knot in my chest didn’t loosen, but I forced my voice to be as neutral as possible. “Well, at least no one was hurt. Your group has a session soon, right? Did you still want to go through that drill before then?”
    That was all I needed to say. Conner and Kyle moved off with their boxes, but before Daisy followed them, she shot me an irritated glare, like I’d disappointed her by letting Chase off the hook.
    I didn’t wait for Chase to answer. “I’m going to the training courts to set up,” I said. I walked away, pretending I didn’t care if he followed me or not.
    Behind me, I could hear him struggling to his feet, cursing in Fey like he only does when he’s really rattled.
    â€œChase, it’s fine,” Adelaide said. “At least finish your breakfast.”
    Heavy footfalls thumped toward me. Then Chase’s hand fell on my arm. It was probably wrong to feel glad that he’d come after me, but I did. I looked up. He’d grown more than a couple inches since spring. It still made me feel like my best friend had been replaced with a stranger.
    He was standing too close, his eyes as green as they had been when we were dancing at Queen Titania’s pavilion. “Are you really okay?”
    â€œYeah.” I resisted the urge to add, No thanks to you . Kenneth and Bryan were passing, carrying an unconscious, bound witch on a stretcher toward the dungeon.
    Some fifth graders had clustered outside the iron-studded door to the training courts, waiting for their lessons and chatting with huge, eager smiles. The younger kids treated these classes just like summer camp. “Excuse me, please,” I told them. They skittered away, watching us, wide-eyed and awed. I broke out of Chase’s grasp, opened the door, and went inside.
    He followed me down the hall that separated the courtyard and the training courts. I slammed through the second door.
    The training courts had grown, just as the courtyard had. The entire army of metal dummies stood guard along the walls. The Director wanted them out