I Do Not Trust You: A Novel Read online

  He smiled, his eyes crinkling. “Right. The prophecy was that the battle between Set and Horus would continue until the end of time, until the earth was destroyed. But that didn’t mean Set would demolish the world if he managed to beat Horus. I think it meant that the battle itself would obliterate the planet and all of us.”

  “So maybe whoever managed to trap Set in the statue didn’t do it because they thought Set was evil,” M said slowly. “Maybe they did it because as long as Set wasn’t there for Horus to fight, the world would be safe. If they’d found a way to contain Horus, that would have worked just as well.”

  “This is making my head ache,” Ash admitted. He felt like he was in free fall. Nothing could be counted on. Nothing was stable. He’d devoted so many years of his life to Horus because he thought Horus was on the side of right, while his parents and Set were on the side of destruction. Now he didn’t know what to believe.

  “We’ll let you rest,” Dr. Engel said. He and Mike started for the door. M pulled a blanket off the foot of Ash’s bed, dragged a chair over, and settled herself in it with the blanket wrapped around her.

  “M?” her father said.

  “I’m staying,” she told him firmly.

  He smiled. “I know better than to argue with you when your mind is made up.”

  “I’ll make us some tea,” Mike said.

  “But no food, please,” Dr. Engel joked as they left the room.

  Ash glanced at M. “You don’t need to stay. I’m fine. And you won’t be comfortable in the chair.”

  “Haven’t you figured out yet there’s no point in arguing with me when my mind is made up?” M asked, grinning. Then her smile faded. “I’m so sorry, Ash. When you weren’t at the cemetery I panicked. I saw your texts with Philip, and I assumed you went back to the Eye. It didn’t even occur to me I was giving Liza the final piece of Set. I thought it was the only way to save my dad, but what I did almost killed him, and you, and everyone else.”

  Ash shook his head weakly. “I lied to you, almost every day we were together. How were you supposed to trust me? I’m the one who should be telling you I’m sorry.”

  “Well, I forgive you, if you forgive me,” M said.

  “You forgive me?” He felt astonished. “Even after reading what I said to Philip? I was lying to him, too, sort of … I don’t even know what I was thinking anymore.” Everything seemed like a blur now, all his beliefs wrong.

  “Of course I forgive you. You said we had a deal, and you kept it. You didn’t betray me for the Eye. You saved my dad, and, oh yeah, the world,” M told him. “But next time, we don’t split up, agreed?”

  “Agreed.” A grin broke across Ash’s face. Maybe he did have one thing he could count on, after all. He could count on M. “Wait,” he said. “Next time?”

  ALSO BY LAURA J. BURNS & MELINDA METZ

  SANCTUARY BAY

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  LAURA J. BURNS and MELINDA METZ have written many books for teens and middle-grade readers, including Sanctuary Bay, Crave, and Sacrifice, as well as the Edgar-nominated mystery series Wright and Wong. They have also written for the TV shows Roswell, 1-800-Missing, and The Dead Zone. Laura lives in New York and Melinda lives in North Carolina, but really they mostly live on email, where they do most of their work together.

  You can sign up for email updates on Laura J. Burns here.

  You can sign up for email updates on Melinda Metz here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  The Boston Record

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Alos by Laura J. Burns & Melinda Metz

  About the Authors

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

  I DO NOT TRUST YOU. Copyright © 2018 by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.wednesdaybooks.com

  www.stmartins.com

  Cover design by Olga Grlic

  Cover photographs: snake © robuart/Shutterstock.com; leaf © GoMixer/Shutterstock.com; background © Pawaris Pattano09/Shutterstock.com; texture © Ursa Major/Shutterstock.com

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-05230-8 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4668-5391-1 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781466853911

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: September 2018