creepy hollow 05 - a faerie's revenge by rachel morgan Read Free Book Online

teeth right around my wrist.”
    “How do you expect me to award you any points if I can’t see how you performed on this assignment?”
    “I don’t know. The two women got away safely, if that counts for anything. But I suppose you’ll have to take my word for it.”
    “Your word,” Olive says with a humorless laugh. She shakes her head. “Zero,” she snaps. “And be grateful I’m not giving you negative points.”
    Grateful? I’m grateful I didn’t have to kill the wolf-man. I’m grateful Olive didn’t see my tracker band. And I’m grateful she knows nothing about Chase. Because despite the fact that it makes me no better than a traitor, I can’t escape the feeling that I don’t ever want him to wind up in the clutches of the Guild.
     
     
     

CHAPTER
    SIX

     
    I lower myself onto the mat on my hands and knees, stretch my legs out behind me, and start my set of push-ups. “Not much,” I say to Gemma in answer to her question about what I’m doing later. “Probably just homework and any extra training Olive decides to give me.”
    “Well, if you don’t have extra training, do you want to come over later? We can just chill and chat about girl stuff.”
    “Okay. Sure.” My eyes remain fixed on the section of floor in front of my face as I push against it repeatedly. “I don’t think I’ll have much to add to the conversation, but we can chat about you.”
    She laughs. “Okay. I’m hanging out with Rick for a little while after we’re done with training, so we can dissect that.”
    “Cool.”
    It’s our last session for the day and Gemma and I have been assigned to the strength training area. I started with weights and now I’m onto push-ups. Beside me, Gemma is doing lunges while holding a bar across her shoulders. The idea of spending the evening rehashing every word the guy she’s crushing on said to her doesn’t fill me with a great deal of excitement, but if I were in her shoes—and if the guy I liked hadn’t turned out to be an evil, brainwashing, Destruction master—I’d want to do the same thing. Besides, Rick is a Seer, so talking about him might not be that boring after all. There are so many things I’ve wanted to know since I discovered Mom was a Seer trainee before she fled the Guild years ago.
    “How much do you know about Seer life?” I ask Gemma. My arms are beginning to burn and my breaths are coming faster now, but I can keep going for a while. “Has Rick told you lots? Like, what their training is about and … what the process is from the time a vision is Seen … to when it makes its way … downstairs for guardians to take care of?”
    “Yeah, some of it. They use special mirrors.” She stops her lunges and pulls one leg up into a stretch. “Why don’t you ask him? You can come upstairs with me after this session.”
    “Okay. But won’t that be … a bit weird? Just the three of us … hanging out?” It’s getting harder to carry on a conversation, but I manage to get my words out at the top of each push-up.
    “No, we’ll be in the Seer common room. Other trainees hang out there, so it won’t be—Freaking heck, will you stop already? How many push-ups are you planning to do?”
    “I don’t know,” I say breathlessly, still going. “I don’t count anymore. Olive tells me to … keep going until it hurts … and then to keep going some more after that.”
    “Okay, your mentor seriously needs to chill out.”
    “Do I, Miss Alcourt?”
    From the corner of my eye, I see Gemma step back quickly. Olive’s boots appear in my line of vision. “Um … oops,” Gemma says. “I’m sorry.”
    I get to my feet, rolling my shoulders and swinging my arms as I look from Olive’s crossed arms to Gemma’s guilty expression. “Hi,” I say to Olive, hoping to break the glare she’s currently directing at Gemma.
    “I’m just gonna go use those weights over there,” Gemma says. She turns and hurries to the other end of the strength training area.
    “I