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“You just flew into my room like your ass was on fire,” she discloses, like I’m unaware that I slid across her floor and almost fell on my face. “Are you going to tell me why you’re here or just stare at me until I shrivel up in this Arctic water?”
“Oh. Right.” I release a nervous giggle. “We need to talk.”
She rolls her eyes, growing more irritated with my invasion of her personal space. “Obviously.”
“Would you like me to warm your water?” I offer. “I can do that.”
“Uhm, no,” Madi retorts. “I want you to tell me why this conversation can’t wait ten more minutes.”
“Because you’ve waited fifty days to have someone to talk to about all the wild shit you’ve seen. Because Ecaeris just apologized to me, and I owe you the same words he said to me.” I take a deep breath and still my racing thoughts. “I was angry, and I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. For that, I am sorry.”
“It’s a little late for apologies, Ada. We’re well beyond that.”
I tuck my hands into the pockets of my shorts to stop fidgeting. “That may be, but I still owe it to you. I should have told you sooner.”
Madi studies me, staying well below the surface of her bathwater. I stand awkwardly, a million things wanting to spill from my lips, though none take the plunge of their own accord. I can’t tell her everything all at once. She’s the type of person who needs to be challenged, following the scarce trail of breadcrumbs one leaves until she gets to her goal.
“Since you want to have this now...” she begins, sliding further into the water. “Why are we here? And I don’t mean the bathroom.”
“I can’t answer that.”
“What happened to the other women who were caught in the storm with us?”
I tip my head, giving her a crumb. “They’re fine so far as I’ve been told. They ended up with the other two tribes.”
“Why are we here, Ada?” she repeats, slapping the surface of her bath water. “It’s not just because of the storm. There has to be more to this punishment than—”
“I know why I’m here,” I interrupt, my voice steady, truthful. “But you’ll have to figure out why you’re here without my input. This isn’t meant to be a punishment, Madi. It’s meant to be a second chance.”
“It’s freakish here,” she mumbles, unhappy with my evasion of her question.
I grin. “It’s fantastical and outrageous and otherworldly.”
“You sound like you’re describing a world from one of your fantasy books,” she says with a groan. “But I still don’t want to read it.”
“Not even when you feel the fire pulsing inside you?” I murmur, drawing my hand from my pocket to show her the water that clings to my skin. “When you stretch your fingertips, burning with the brightest of flames, and light the torches that keep the Shades out of the dark?”
Madi laughs bitterly. “What are you talking about? I’ve been in the dark with only a few Shades standing in my corner. There are no masses who need me to light the way.”
“They’ll need you,” I assure her. “We simply need to clear the ashes from the air so they can see the truth.”
“Do you hear yourself?” she asks incredulously.
“Do you?” I counter, then scoff. “Madigan Wilde doesn’t back down when the going gets tough. No one tells her she can’t do something. Stop being the selfish princess your father wanted you to be. Start being the inspiring and passionate queen that you have always been. The Shades need that as much as the rest of us.”
“Fuck you,” she snarls, falling into my riptide of reverse psychology bullshit. “I’m not selfish.”
I raise a brow, my sarcasm thick as I say, “No. You’re right. I suppose you’re just not cut out to do more than waste away under a tyrant’s thumb. Doesn’t really matter which one it is.”
“Did you come in here to insult me?”
“Not at first,” I admit. “But now I can see that you need it. You’re too ambitious to sit idle on the sidelines while the rest of us thrive. You’re aggressive and impulsive, yet courageous and bright. So why are you hiding?”
Madi’s deep blue irises blaze with anger. “I don’t want to be here.”
“Lies,” I hiss. “You chose to stay, same as me. Now, it’s time to show your people you’re unafraid in the face of their biggest fear.”
“I fear her, Ada!” She shouts her confession, though her expression says she didn’t want to tell anyone, least of all me.
