Page 70 of The Tree of Spirits
These guys werereallystarting to get on my nerves. I narrowed my eyes, the only part of me that I could still move.
“The General is on a witch hunt, and it’s going to get a lot of people hurt. Just tell us what you’re planning with him, and we’ll let you go.”
“I. Am. Not. Planning. Anything. With. The. General,” I said through clenched teeth as I tried to covertly free my hands from the ropes.
Cedar clicked his tongue at me. “None of that now.”
He lifted his hand, sending a fiery spark down the ropes.
I swallowed half a dozen swear words.
“Let’s try this again.” Cedar put out the tiny magic fire before it touched me. “When will the General make his move? And which of our hideouts will he hit first?”
“No idea. And how the heck would I know?”
He set another spark on my ropes. Only for a moment. Just long enough for me to tell it was really hot before he put it out again.
“That hurt!” I growled. The flame hadn’t touched me, but I’d still felt how hot it was.
“That’s how these things work. We hurt you when you don’t answer our questions.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“We said we didn’t want to hurt you,” Cedar said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t.”
“That’s barbaric!”
“Well, we tried giving people chocolate-sprinkled muffins to encourage them to answer our questions, but it just didn’t have the same effect.”
“Is that supposed to be funny?”
“Yes.”
“Somehow I forgot to laugh.”
“Cedar thinks he’s funnier than he actually is,” Angel told me, then glanced down at her watch, which had just begun to glow.
“Have somewhere important to be?” I asked.
“Yes,” replied Angel.
Cedar flicked his hand, using his magic to light the candle on the table opposite me. It smelled sweet, like strawberries and vanilla.
“We’ll be back soon,” said Cedar. “Try not to miss us too much while we’re gone.”
“I’ll be counting the seconds until your return,” I shot back.
Cedar followed Angel to the door, but he turned around just as he was about to leave. “Don’t go anywhere.”
The sound of his chuckles followed him out of the room.
He thought he was sooo funny. I should have set his braid on fire to see how he likedthat.
I made a mental note to master the gift of fire.
I waited for something to happen. That was the cue for my magic to come out and save me.
Nothing happened. Clearly, my magic wasn’t interested in playing along today.
