The Princess Trials (The Princess Trials #1)(48)

Hatred takes hold of my heart and expands until it cuts off my air. I dismantle the shade, place it back into the pack, and leave Berta where she sits. It’s only fair since she ditched us the second she secured herself a goat. I walk over to Gemini and place a hand on her shoulder, indicating that we should leave.

“Where are you going?” Berta asks.

“The Mirage, where do you think?” I snap.

Gemini shoots me a concerned glance, and the anger swelling through my insides deflates. I want to tell her that I wasn’t always this hard or abrasive, but it would probably be a lie. For a moment, I forgot about the Echelon system and considered Berta a comrade. She’s nothing of the sort. Gemini might be a Guardian, but she’s suffering the brunt of the corrupt system.

Berta trails after us, her breaths labored. “Don’t walk so fast.”

I glance at Gemini, who slows her steps, meaning I’ve got to do the same.

“Hey,” says Berta. “Sorry I walked off earlier.”

“Why did you do it?” I stare into the distance, where the heat makes the landscape wriggle. “Did you think we were dead weight?”

“Will you stop putting words into my mouth?” Berta snaps, mirroring something I said to her when we first met. Conveniently, she doesn’t supply an answer. She probably ditched us because she thought she had a better chance of survival on her own.

“This is a team-building exercise,” says Gemini in a quiet voice. If we can’t work together—”

Her headband hisses and emits brown gas.

“What was that?” says Berta.

I spin around. Berta is looking at something in the distance. I can’t see what because her large body is in the way, but she turns and sprints past us with a yell.

An ostrich races toward us at an alarming rate, creating clues of dust underfoot.

Panic spears through my heart. “Run!”

Gemini bolts and I sprints alongside her. Mom told me a story about being chased by a savage ostrich in the Barrens and having to stay in a tree the entire night as the creature circled her hiding place. They’re huge, deadly, and relentless with their prey.

Several strides ahead, Berta scrambles up a rocky slope, and I pick up my pace with renewed hope.

“It’s gaining on us!” screams Gemini.

We both scramble up the slope, which has enough footfalls to prevent slipping. I keep my eyes on the rock, not caring if I get blisters on my hands from its heat. Something crumbles underfoot. Gemini groans and slides down the rock face but doesn’t try to climb up.

“What are you doing?” My eyes bulge at the approaching creature. “Take my hand.”

Instead of reaching out to me, Gemini stretches her palms outward and screams.

There are only seconds left before the bird attacks. I crawl down, but a large hand grabs my arm and drags me up the slope.

“Berta,” I growl. “Let go!”

“Don’t be so trucking stupid,” Berta snarls from between clenched teeth. “This is Pixel’s execution.”

As Berta drags me to safety, my mouth opens in a silent scream.

This is no ostrich. No ostrich has a peacock-blue neck with crimson wattles, and no ostrich has a horn on the crown of its head that’s twice as thick as its beak.

The creature towers over Gemini—it’s over six feet in height—and swipes its mighty beak across her face, causing her to fall to the ground with a shriek that rings through my ears.





Chapter 14





I’m half scrambling, half dangling over the rocky slope, trying to get to Gemini with Berta holding me back like I’m under arrest. Gemini’s scream wrenches at my gut.

The giant bird spreads out its broad wings, casting a shadow over Gemini and swipes at her with its beak as she tries to rise. She stumbles up with her forearms raised to shield her face, but the bird rams into Gemini and knocks her down.

“Let go.” I try to wriggle free, but Berta is too strong, too stubborn, too stupidly selfish.

“That’s a great cassowary, you twit,” she snarls.

“It’s killing her!”

“The penalty for harming an endangered species is a bullet through the brain.”

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. This attack was deliberate. As was the brown gas that came out of her metal headband, as was the appearance of a creature that likely belongs to the Oasis Animal Sanctuary. My entire body goes slack with shock. That gas was probably some kind of pheromone.

Berta still doesn’t loosen her grip. “Now, do you see that this is an execution?

My chest tightens, and tears fill my eyes. Gemini rolls into a tight ball as the cassowary tramples over her, turns, and tramples her again. Dust clouds form around the creature’s feet as it kicks and stomps and pounds Gemini. Four of those infernal drones surround the pair, filming the destruction of an innocent girl.

The sun, or whatever is illuminating this place, brightens. I lurch forward, but Berta’s grip tightens. If I act, I’ll get myself shot and will fail the mission. If I stand here and watch, I’ll provide entertainment to sadistic Nobles and taint my soul.

“Let go of me,” I croak.

“After everything I’ve said, you still want to get yourself killed?” Her breath is hot, angry, as though anything I do might reflect badly on her.