Half truth

“Set the blindfold over your eyes,” he said. I held his gaze as I shakily lifted my hands to the blindfold, holding it at my forehead for a beat. “Come on, Amelia. You can do this.”

It was his deep voice that coaxed me into doing it. Once it was over my eyes, I couldn’t see anything at all. I looked around, toward where I thought the light was, and I could definitely see brightness behind the blindfold, but nothing beyond that.

“Look at me,” Logan said.

My head instantly snapped in his direction. “I can’t see anything.”

“It’s okay. You can do this,” he repeated. “Pick up your left foot and step forward.”

My blood pumped wildly as I did as he instructed. I took a deep breath, then another one, trying as best I could to calm down.

“Listen to me, Amelia. My voice. Only my voice.”

Under any other circumstance, like Spin the Bottle or Seven minutes in heaven, I would absolutely be okay with closing my eyes and having him talk to me. While standing in the middle of knives though, wearing a ridiculous helmet over my head? Not so much.

“Pick up your right foot, remember the counts? One count forward, one count to the right. Pay attention. This is important.”

I whimpered, my body shaking as I lifted my foot and did as I was told. Once it was on the ground, and I didn’t feel a knife on it, I let out a breath.

“Left foot, one count forward, one count left.”

I did as I was told, my foot shaky as I set it down. I whimpered, my lip trembling.

“I don’t think I can do this.” My teeth clattered. “I don’t think I can do—”

“Well, now you really are surrounded by blades, so you have to.”

I shook my head quickly. “I can’t.”

“Listen to my voice,” he said. “I vouched for you. You have to finish.”

“I didn’t ask you to vouch for me,” I shouted, because it was the only thing I could do.

“Yet I did.”

“Why?” I shook.

“Because I believe in you.”

“You don’t even know me.” I took a deep breath. “You don’t even like me.”

“This isn’t about me. This is about you. Do you believe in yourself? Do you like yourself?” He paused. “Matter of fact, how much do you like your toes? You’re about to slice one open if you don’t follow my instructions.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“Left foot forward. One count.”

My heart pounded as I did it.

“Pick up your right foot and move it two counts left. I’ll count. Ready?”

“No.” I bit down on my lip.

“Pick up your foot,” he instructed. I did. “One count left. Good. One more. Good. Now drop it.”

I bit down harder on my lip. He could’ve very well been telling me to drop my foot right on a blade. Maybe that had been the challenge all along—get Amelia to slice a blade through her foot.

“Drop it,” he said again. “If you move in any other direction, you’re fucked.”

“What if you’re lying?” I screamed, tears wetting my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until I tasted the salt on my lips. “What if this whole thing is designed for me to end up with no foot?”

“I’m impressed you’re able to hold that position for so long,” he said. “Yoga much?”

My chest shuttered with a sob. My left leg wasn’t tired yet, but it would be. I could hold this position well enough on a yoga mat or a dance floor, but out here in the slick grass, it was completely different. Thunder sounded above us. It had been forecast to rain tonight. Was that why they were making this my challenge? Because they wanted me to be a sopping, crying mess? Instead of dropping my foot, I brought it up against my left leg in a tree pose.

“This is about trust, Amelia.” Logan’s voice rang out in the darkness. I focused on him again. “This is about trust.”

“How am I supposed to trust you? You told me to stay away from the cloaks, yet you are a cloak!”

“I meant the red cloaks,” he explained, as if I was being petulant.

“You drugged me the other night!”

“I did not drug you. I was against that.”

“Yet you let it happen.”

“I was late. I wasn’t there when it happened.” He paused, I thought I heard him exhale. “All that is in the past now. You have to trust that I have your back, forever, through everything.”

“I can’t.” I was screaming and shaking and my foot was going to freaking slide off of my i

The others laughed loudly. They were enjoying this display. I could hear them saying things about my brother and how he’d broken, and it took everything in me not to yank the stupid thing off, grab a blade, and throw it their way. Logan told them to shut the fuck up. They did, but snickered.

“Listen to me. I know you’re scared but I’m going to get you through this.” His tone was softer now. “Set your foot down. Slowly. Slide it down your leg. That’s it. Like that . . . slowly . . . and set it down right beside your other foot. Wait! Stop! You weren’t supposed to bring it forward. I didn’t tell you to bring it forward, dammit.”

I didn’t know why he was yelling at me until I felt a pinch over my right ankle. I yelped.

“I got cut,” I yelled.

“Because you didn’t follow fucking directions,” he yelled back. “I told you to trust me.”

“Trust isn’t something you give people when they ask for it. It’s something that’s earned.”

“I’m trying to earn it, but you’re being impossible.”

“Impossible? It’s about to start raining and you have me out here playing with knives!”

“Okay,” he said, and I could tell his patience was wearing thin. “Let’s finish this. You have a few steps to go. Pick up your right foot and move it two counts. Ready? One. Good. Two. Good. Drop it.”

I did with a flinch. Then, he instructed what I should do with the left, and the right again, and left, and then, nothing. I was standing there, shaking, with my arms wrapped around myself, when I felt him walk up to me. He lifted the blindfold slowly. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes.

“I’m done?”

“You’re done.”

“I . . . I . . . ” I blinked faster, shook harder, held myself tighter.

“Hey, Mae,” he said, his voice barely a rasp over the thunder that roared from above. My heart pounded as I craned my neck to meet his gaze. He gri

I felt myself smile for half a second before I started laughing. He was watching me closely, an amused look in his eyes, despite his set jaw.

“We have more to do,” he said after a beat.

I stopped laughing. “What? Right now?”

“The night isn’t over,” Nolan called out. “Don’t get excited.”

“I seriously need to do something else?” I crossed my arms. “This wasn’t enough?” I lifted my leg to where I’d been feeling liquid crawl into my socks. “I’m bleeding.”

“You’ll live.”

“Says the guy who didn’t get cut.”

Logan’s eyebrows rose. “You wouldn’t have gotten cut if you’d followed my exact directions.”

“I would have followed directions if you’d . . . ” I struggled to find blame to pin on him.

He cocked his head, waiting, amusement touching his lips. I turned around and walked toward the others, arms still crossed. I’d do another weird mission impossible thing, but I wasn’t going to do it with him as my partner. Just as those thoughts entered my mind, the skies opened up and it started pouring down on us.