Page 54 of Anchor

A second ticked by and my mouth had opened and closed about a hundred times when Taylor said, “Wanna see my treehouse?”

Goddess, the relief I felt was almost comical.

“Sure,” I said breathlessly. “Sure, why not?”

So, she stood up, left her half torn coloring book and the two colors right there on the ground, and she led me toward the trees at the back of the trailer.

I followed in silence.

Her tree house wasn’t far, and it wasn’t a tree house at all. It was just a tree that was very easy to climb, and it had a very nice spot to build a tree house on, plenty of space to fit at least two grownups to sit there comfortably. It reminded me of the Tree of Abundance in the Greenfire challenge of the Iris Roe as I climbed behind Taylor, but only for a moment.

“I’m going to build my treehouse here when I get just a little bit older, and I have all the tools I need. It’s easy to do. I’ve saved a bunch of videos,” she told me as she settled on the thickest branch.

I sat next to her and looked around us, andwow.

We weren’t too far up, and the forest wasn’t big—I could see the rooftops of the houses on the other side—but it was so quiet here. Or maybe the birds were too loud and their chirping didn’t let the sound of cars and people get to us—who knew?

“What about your dad? Can’t he make you one?” I wondered, not really paying attention to her face still.

But I heard her just fine when she said, “My dad can’t be bothered.” She sounded both pissed off and hurt at the same time. “I’d rather do it by myself, anyway. That way I don’t have to saythank youto anyone.”

That sounded so, so wrong—and so damn familiar.

“Taylor, I—” I started, hoping to be able to say something smart, something she’d find helpful, but she cut me off.

“Are you here to tell me about the Iris Roe?”

Goddess, my stomach twisted a million times in a second. “No.”

“Why not? You were Mud and you won.”

“I-I-I wasn’t.”Fuck, why am I stuttering?“I wasn’t Mud.”

“Liar,” she said, and when she met my eyes now, I knew why she’d seemed so different before. She’d lacked thisfire,this determination, this anger while she was sitting there, coloring. She’d looked…depressed, whereas now she looked about ready to bite my face off.

I don’t know why that made me want to smile, but thankfully I stopped myself before I did.

“I’m sure you saw me give that speech in front of the IDD.”

“Yes, I saw it. You were lying there, too.”

I raised a brow. “How do you know that I’m lying?”

She looked at me like I might have turned green in the past minute. “Because youhaveto be lying.”

“I do?”

“Yes. Because if you were Mud and you won, then so can I.”

The way my heart broke…

Hope.That’s what she saw when she looked at me—hope. A way out. An opportunity.

“I’m sorry, Taylor,” I said. “But I wasn’t Mud, and you can’t get in the Iris Roe. You just can’t win without magic.”

She wrapped her skinny fingers around my wrist so tightly it surprised me. “Then teach me howyoudid it!”

“I didn’t,” I said, looking down at her hand where she grabbed me, and she let go. “I didn’t win without magic.” Which was the truth. “I wasn’t Mud. You can’t get into the Iris Roe.”And I started to climb down the tree again, cursing myself twice as loud in my head.

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