The Fear Trials by Lindsay Cummings

met Trace. Wishing the man that killed Anna had killed her, too.
    â€œI thought I’d find you here.”
    My father. He sits down beside me.
    â€œYou’re too much like me, Meadow. You screw up and you want to redeem yourself, and it’s a pattern that never ends. Someday it will destroy you.”
    â€œSo let it,” I say. I put my hands on my knees and rest my chin in my hands. “I wish I was dead.”
    â€œYou’re more alive than I’ve ever seen you,” my father says. He sighs. “I’m sorry for what I said. I was angry. I was . . . scared.”
    I finally look at him. There are dark circles under his eyes. He looks so tired. “You don’t know what it means to be scared.”
    He laughs sadly. “I’m terrified of losing my children. I’m so afraid that I train you to hate me, just to see to it that you’ll be strong.”
    â€œYou said I’d never go into the city again.”
    â€œYou’re here now, aren’t you?”
    I lean against his shoulder. He lets me. “I don’t know where Peri is. I’ve looked everywhere.”
    â€œWe’ll find her.”
    He puts his arm around me and holds me, just for a second. Then he stands up, pulling me to my feet.
    There’s a whistle as the train approaches. We wait for it to pass. For some reason, I can’t look away. There’s something about it. Something about how fast it goes, how effortlessly it glides across the tracks.
    Trace’s voice comes into my head. She’ll never get to ride the train. I told her it was scary, but she didn’t care. She wanted to so badly . . .
    â€œThe train,” I gasp. Of course.
    â€œWhat about it?” My father asks.
    â€œThey’re on the train.”

Chapter 20
    M y adrenaline takes over. My vision tunnels, and the train is all I can see.
    My father reaches the train first. He leaps, all fire and fury, and climbs onto the back of the car. He reaches out to help me, but I don’t need it.
    I land beside him. We climb the ladder to the top and crouch there. Wind whips me in the face as the train soars across the tracks. It passes the Graveyard, a massive mountain range of trash on the edge of the city.
    â€œWe’ll go car by car!” My father yells. His voice is nearly lost. “You take one, I’ll take the other!”
    â€œAnd if we find them?” I yell.
    The train veers to the left. I nearly fall off, but my father grabs my arm, steadies me. He looks me in the eyes, and in this moment, I know that we are both thinking the same thing.
    â€œKill the girl,” he says.
    He lies on the edge of the roof and peers down, inside the open door of the car. “Not in this one,” he says. Then he stands up, runs and leaps onto the next car.
    I follow. I’m shaking, and I’m terrified that the wind will throw me off. But I think of Peri, how afraid she must be, and it makes me brave.
    I sprint for the next car and leap, just as my father did. My knees bang metal as I land. But I’ve made it. I crawl across the wide metal roof, grab the edge, and peer through the open door.
    There’s a group of people, huddled together in the shadows. For a second, I think I see Peri. The girl looks up at me, and my heart sinks. It’s not her. I stand up, sprint down the car, and leap to the next one.
    My father passes me. “No luck!” he screams.
    The train is barreling across a bridge, heading toward Cortez. It will stop for a few moments, before it turns back around.
    We have one car left.
    She has to be there.
    I leap, crawl to the edge, and peer inside.
    At first, I think it’s empty. I slam my fist against the roof and scream, so angry I’m seeing red.
    And that’s when a figure moves out of the shadows. Her hair is crimson. As red as fire. Beyond Trace, curled up on her side, is Peri. Her eyes are closed. She could be asleep. Or she could be dead.
    I don’t