The Iron Sword (The Fae War Chronicles Book 1)

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Book: Read The Iron Sword (The Fae War Chronicles Book 1) for Free Online
Authors: Jocelyn Fox
with single-minded determination. Molly watched me with hooded eyes, pouring a precise amount of cereal into her bowl, her movements measured and cat-like. I showered quickly in the little bathroom, changing into clean shorts and a t-shirt. Molly deferred a shower, saying she was fine with simply changing shirts. I groused at her again about her suspicious lack of sweat glands. When Mr. Jackson asked where we were going, Molly told him that we were going hiking, and then maybe to White River for some kayaking later on in the day. She packed a backpack with a few water-bottles, trail mix and cold-cut sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil. She leapt up the stairs to the loft and added some things to the front pocket of the backpack. I added a tube of sunscreen after squeezing some out into my palm.
    “You’re going to get burnt,” I warned Molly as she wrinkled her nose at my offer of sun protection.
    “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Come on, let’s go.”
    We made it out the front door and halfway down the hill before Austin spotted us.
    “Where are y’all going?” he asked, stepping away from the pick-up, which had its hood propped open. His hands were dark with engine grease.
    “Girls-only hike,” Molly replied firmly. “So unless you’ve got a big secret, that means you can’t come.”
    I paused and looked back at Austin. He winked at me cheekily before replying to his older sister.
    “If I were a girl, Molls, you would have to pry the boys off me,” he said teasingly.
    “Yeah,” Molly said, “you would be a slut.”
    “Ouch,” Austin said, putting his hand over…well, below his belt. “That was a low blow.”
    “You started it.”
    “Whatever.” Austin grinned. “Don’t get lost on the chick-only hike, Tess. Then I’d have to come find you.”
    I felt my cheeks heat even as I rolled my eyes, upholding Molly’s obligatory older-sister scorn. “You wish, Austin.” We started walking down the hill again.
    “You’re right,” Austin said devilishly from behind us. “I do!”
    I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at his brazen audacity. Molly smiled a little too.
    “Brothers,” I said under my breath, shaking my head.
    “He’s my cousin,” Molly corrected darkly, and just like that, the playful mood dissipated, evaporating into the dry hot air. I opened my mouth, but then found that none of the words in my head fit the mood, so I licked my lips and said nothing. We walked in silence for a while, the blazing Texas sun pounding our short shadows into the trail.
    As we came to a fork in the trail, Molly shifted the backpack on her shoulders. She took the left fork, with me following a half-step behind.
    “Where are we going?” I ventured finally.
    “To someplace that’s dark enough for Glira in the daytime,” said Molly.
    Another question itched on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed and tried to think it through myself instead. It irked me that I was as ignorant as a toddler when it came to the Fae, and even though she knew only a little more than me, Molly seemed to know all the answers as she trudged up the incline of the trail.
    We stopped after an hour. Molly handed me some trail mix and a water bottle. I slathered more sunscreen onto my face and stretched my legs, trying to massage the soreness from the morning’s run out of my hamstrings. I stood and idly walked around the edges of the trail as I finished the last of the water, kicking at a large rock and watching as a little lizard scurried away from the disturbance.
    “The faeries’ names, they have power,” I said to the air, letting the words hang from my lips in slow contemplation as I thought.
    Molly lounged in a pool of shadow, leaning back against the trunk of a tree. “Yes.”
    “Let me call Wisp, then.” I turned to face Molly. “He’s the one who brought the message. He should know more than your Trillow or Glira.”
    “First of all,” she replied, that foreign glint in her eye again, “they’re not my

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