The Fear Trials by Lindsay Cummings Read Free Book Online Page A

my own.

Chapter 17
    I hear someone singing in the rain.
    It’s my mother. I sit in the dinghy and listen, relax into the sound of her voice and the pounding of the rain. She only sings when she’s happy. I close my eyes and smile.
    But then I really listen to the words of the song. And they chill me to my core.
    Someone save me, I’m falling to darkness.
    I met a man in the night who gave me a new start.
    Someone save me, I’m losing my sanity.
    The man’s name was Death and he blackened my heart.
    It’s then that I hear another voice with my mother’s. It’s a girl’s voice, and for a second, I think I might be going insane.
    It’s Trace.
    I knock on the boat, three times.
    The singing stops. My mother’s face appears over the railing. She drops the ladder down, and I make the ascent.
    I see Trace immediately, her fiery hair even brighter in the rain. Peri is sitting beside her under the awning, holding her teddy bear.
    â€œWhat . . . what are you doing here?” I ask. No one has ever been on our boat besides my family. It’s my father’s rule.
    My mother waves. “You made it back. With the book, I see. Good girl.” She stands up and puts her hand on my shoulder. “Your friend stopped by, and I invited her to stay. I thought it would be nice. We can celebrate today’s victory.”
    I pull her aside, whisper low. “If Dad knew you let a stranger on this boat, he’d throw you overboard.”
    â€œShe’s not a stranger, darling. I knew Trace’s mother, long ago.” She smiles and touches my cheek. “And your father isn’t here today, is he? It’s all right to have a little bit of fun, now and then.”
    Peri giggles. Trace is teaching her the words to the song. I stiffen. This is wrong, against every rule, to let someone else onto our boat, which is supposed to be safe and private and separate from the outside world.
    But Trace looks happy. So different from the girl who just yesterday could have killed me. She was hurting, then. Mourning. I would have done the same, so I smile and force myself to relax.
    The rain stops, and the sun comes out, sharing stories about our past as it sets. Trace talks about Anna, and she smiles now and then. But the entire time, she watches Peri with a strange sort of hunger in her eyes. As if she thinks Peri is Anna, come back from the dead.
    My mother is different, today, too. It’s like she’s herself again, steady on her feet, a smile on her face. She pulls Peri into her lap and braids her hair, and the four of us lie on the deck and watch the sky.
    At some point my mother goes inside, to work in the engine room with Koi.
    â€œI thought it was odd that you came over here,” I tell Trace. We’re standing on the bow of the boat, watching the sun melt away. “But I guess I’m glad you did.” Peri giggles behind us. She’s playing with her teddy bear, making it talk. “Peri reminds you of your sister, doesn’t she?”
    Trace nods. Her eyes are sad, the sun reflected in them like little pools of light. “Anna was everything to me.”
    â€œIt’s not your fault,” I say.
    She sighs. “If I could find a way to go back and fix my mistake, she’d still be here.”
    â€œYou can’t think that way. Koi thinks that way.”
    She shrugs and starts singing again, those same awful lyrics, that same chilling song. She watches Peri, and there’s an alarm going off in my head. She shouldn’t be here. This is wrong.
    â€œYou should go now,” I say. “My father will be home soon. He won’t be happy to see you here.”
    â€œI wouldn’t worry,” she says. “I’ll be gone before you know it.” She scoops up a hammer that lies forgotten on the deck, rusted from the rain and salt. She lets it dance across the tops of her hands. I’ve seen my father do that with his