The Faerie War Read Online Free PDF

says.
    She . The reptiscilla whose name I don’t even know. It seems silly to ask her now. Her name is completely insignificant next to the fact that I saved the life of the boy who turned into the most powerful and evil guy in our realm.
    My brain taunts me with words I don’t want to think: My fault. My fault. Even my heart seems to beat it out. My. Fault. MY. FAULT.
    No wonder there are people down here who hate me so much. I open my eyes and ask, “Does everyone know about this?”
    She shakes her head. “Not a soul. I was alone when I had the vision, and I certainly didn’t want to tell anyone about it after I’d failed.”
    Oh. So people really do hate me simply for being a guardian.
    “Did you vote to have me locked up here as a prisoner?” I wouldn’t blame her.
    “Actually, I voted for you to stay here and help us.”
    I pull my head back in surprise. “Why?”
    “It’s quite simple,” she says. “There is no one here who wants to defeat Draven more than you do now that you know you played a part in keeping him alive when he should have died. You will stop at nothing to rid the world of his evil because you have everything to make up for.” She pauses, and her voice is quieter when she says, “As do I.”
    I sit up a little straighter and nod. “I’ll do whatever I can. I’ll try to help you form alliances with other fae. I’ll fight beside you.”
    She reaches forward and touches my hand. “Good. We’ll bring him down if it’s the last thing we do.”
     
    *
     
    After leaving the hall, I wander around the market for a while, thinking. It must be early evening by now because people are beginning to pack their stalls away. I head toward the playground. Farah’s home is nice enough, but I’m tired of spending so much time there. Besides, Farah can talk as if it’s her last hour on earth and she has to fill it with as many words as possible. That’s great for someone like me who’d rather listen than talk, but right now all I want is to sit quietly somewhere and process the fact that I’m partly to blame for The Destruction and everything bad that’s happened since. Because that is a BIG DEAL. The kind of big deal that makes me want to do something to fix it right now . Because if I don’t, I might just shrivel up from all the shame and guilt eating at me.
    I sit down on one of the swings and lean forward. Okay, so I let the bad guy live. Big mistake, obviously. But I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know the world would just about fall apart because of it. So instead of berating myself, I should be thinking about how we can defeat him. Yes. That’s what I’ll think about. I’ll try to be as—
    “Violet?” I look up and see Jamon and the girl with green ribbons in her hair—Natesa?—strolling toward me. “Are you okay?” he asks.
    I sit up straight. “Um, yeah. Why?”
    The girl smiles. “You’re staring at the ground as though it’s done something terribly offensive.”
    Right. I make a conscious effort to smooth out my features as I say, “Uh, no, that’s just my thinking face.”
    She laughs. “Well, anyway, I’m Natesa. We haven’t actually met yet.”
    “Oh, yeah, hi.” I should probably say something else, but I have no idea what. I think Natesa is the girl who dropped off some clothes for me at Farah’s house during my first week here, but I’m not certain. It would be weird if I thanked her and it turned out to be someone else. I wind a strand of hair around my finger and try to think up some appropriate words. Have I always been this awkward around people I don’t know, or are social skills are just something I forgot along with the rest of the details of my life?
    “Okay, well, I need to get home.” She rolls her eyes. “My mother’s expecting me. She’s been seriously overprotective ever since The Destruction.”
    “Oh, okay.” I give her a little wave as she hurries away. When she’s out of sight, I say, “I didn’t scare her off,