Page 70 of Skalterra By Nightmare
And this… This was a trick. It had to be. It had been last time.
No.
I forced myself out of the truck cab. It was in my head. Liam was my friend. Gams had said so to Mom on the phone.
But Linsey had also been my friend, and for so much longer. And I had been nothing but rude to Liam since I’d met him.
A door slammed shut, and Liam came around the front of the truck with a board under his arm.
“Inflatable, see?” He gave the board a shrug to show off its light weight. “We’ll be fine. If you could grab the paddles, though—”
“No.” I spat the word. I hadn’t meant for it to be an attack, but I couldn’t take it back now.
“Then take a board, and let’s get moving.” Sabrina came up behind me with the second board under her arm. “Molly and Xander are waiting.”
Waiting. In the woods?
No, the woods were safe. Safe. It was daytime. I’d fought the Grimguard in the woods and at night.
But as real as Skalterra was, that had still, in a way, been a dream. And this felt too real.
This felt too much like graduation night.
I stared at the board under Sabrina’s arm, and then at the paddles on the ground.
I wanted to go to the beach with them. I wanted to meet Riley’s friends. I wanted to have one night where I could relax and feel normal and maybe forget about Grimguards, barons, and rotsbane.
But I could not go through those woods.
More importantly, I couldn’t let Liam and Sabrina know why. I couldn’t let them see the mess of a human that I was hiding.
“I said no.” It was more of a snarl this time, and Sabrina’s eyebrows jumped up into her strawberry curls. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go.”
“Wren—” Liam started, but I whirled around to face him and cut him off.
“You didn’t say there’d be so many people,” I accused. “Or that we’d have to walk there.”
“It’s really not that far,” Sabrina said.
“That’s not the point!” My voice rose, but it was as if someone else was talking. It wasn’t me yelling at Liam and Sabrina. I’d never yell at them, not over something so trivial. “You both lied! And the road was windy, and I don’t feel good, and after we get down there, we’re going to have to walk back up when we’re done!”
Liam and Sabrina exchanged a look. Liam’s raised eyebrows told me he was taken aback, but the wrinkle of Sabrina’s nose indicated something closer to disgust.
“So wait here. See you in a few hours.” Sabrina maneuvered one of the paddles into her free arm and turned towards the wooded path. “Come on, Liam. If she changes her mind, she can find us.”
I leaned against the truck, relieved to have temporarily won, but burning with panic and embarrassment. I’d have to call Gams to come get me. She’d understand.
I waited for Liam to follow Sabrina, but he came back to the truck and heaved his board back into the bed.
“What’re you doing?” I snapped.
“Liam?” Sabrina called from the pathway.
“I’ll meet you there!” He waved at Sabrina and went to tighten the straps that held the paddleboard in place. “I’ll take Wren back to Ethel’s.”
Sabrina blew a curly lock of hair from her face and rolled her eyes as she turned away. Liam smiled at me over the truck bed. I glowered back.
“Grab that paddle for me?” he asked.
