Flashback ( PDFDrive )

that isn’t swampy and rancid, and my parents just stood there, eating it up. I
swear, if my mom wasn’t trying to pretend that she’s being objective, she
would’ve run over and given him a hug after the flower thing. And my dad
already stopped asking questions. He hit Alvar with, like, three how-couldyous,
but Alvar said, “I don’t remember,” and my dad dropped it. I mean . . .
seriously?
I’m sorry, Sophie told him. That sounds super stressful.
It is—but don’t worry, I’m keeping my temper under control. I almost lost
it when they first opened the gates to let Alvar in, but I’d told Biana to kick
me to distract me. That got me through—plus a couple of wicked bruises.
Word of advice, never let Biana near your shins.
Noted, Sophie said, trying to match his light tone, even though she
could tell his was totally forced. So . . . sounds like you’ve had to spend
some time with Alvar. Does that mean you weren’t able to make a deal with
your parents?
No, I was. They just drove a harder bargain than I expected. They made
me and Biana promise to cooperate for the next ten days and do whatever
they tell us to do. But once the ten days are up, they can’t ask us to do
anything else, so . . . it’s worth it, I guess.
What kind of stuff are they having you do?
So far, just the Council’s assignments. They wanted us to share some
childhood memories with him to see if it triggered anything. And tomorrow I
think we’re supposed to play games.
Games?
I know—don’t even get me started. That’s the brilliant plan from our
illustrious Council: Make us play base quest with a murderer. His mind
went quiet for a second, and she wondered if he was taking a deep