Page 25 of The Tree of Spirits
When the General faced me, his expression was one of surprise.
“I read Ms. Featherdale’s guide on all the important players at the Summit,” I told him.
His eyes narrowed. “That guide is over two thousand pages long.”
“I’m a fast reader. And I have a good memory.”
“Don’t show off, Miss Winters. It won’t earn you any favors with me.”
I resisted the urge to glance at the Scoreboard in the General’s office. No need to torture myself. It was unlikely that I’d moved in a positive direction.
“No favors? Too bad.” I pouted out my lips. “I was really hoping to win a medal or two. Or maybe even a statue in my honor.”
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had. Mouthing off to the grumpy old General was a pretty bad idea.
“So, the Techno Knight’s armor isn’t magical,” I said to change the subject.
But the General’s frown only deepened. “You have bigger things to worry about than sticking your nose in matters that have nothing to do with you.”
Well, technically the Techno Knight had a lot to do with me. I’d been right there when he’d attacked the Tournament. And I’d helped the Knights defeat him.
But the General didn’t need to be reminded of yet another time that I’d been on the sidelines of a catastrophe. He already thought I was a menace. And all because I’d taken magic without permission.
Of course he didn’t know I’d always had magic. That was a big can of worms that I didn’t want to open.
Looking at the General was making me kind of queasy, so I looked at the TV instead. The news was showing scenes from today’s protests in the Emporium.
“People seem pretty upset,” I commented.
The General gave me an icy look.
I should have just kept my mouth shut. I always talked too much when I got nervous, and meeting with the General made me very nervous. Maybe it was his nickname: the Iron Wolf. That sure didn’t make him sound warm and cuddly.
The General’s icy demeanor turned to fire when the Rebels burst onto the scene on screen. “Pesky vigilantes. This is what happens when you give teenagers magic.” He glowered at me like it was my fault that there were Rebels at all.
I didn’t bother to remind him that the Rebels had existed before I’d come to the Fortress. I was sure it wouldn’t help my case.
The wordsPandemonium in the Park!scrolled across the bottom of the screen as the camera cut to the Rebels dropping off a bunch of commandos, gagged and bound, at the Watchers’ gates. They even left a sign with them.
“A present from your friendly neighborhood Robin Hoods,” I read. “Aww, that’s cute.”
The General’s gaze burned into me. And his voice hissed like an angry teapot when he said, “You think this is funny, do you, Miss Winters?”
Yes.
“No,” I told him. “This is serious. And the Rebels seriously saved your soldiers’ butts today in the Park. So maybe instead of glowering at them, you should be thanking them.”
His nostrils flared. “You are even more ridiculous than I thought.Thankthe Rebels? They arecriminals, Miss Winters. And criminals always get what’s coming to them.” He looked at me like he was lumping me in with all of those so-called ‘criminals’.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I told him in a calm, level voice, even though my pulse was racing. I checked the urge to wipe my nervous, sweaty palms on my pants.
“You didn’t do anything wrong?” The General laughed, though it sounded more like the splat of a fist hitting someone’s head. “You cheated the system to steal magic, crashed a stolen Government vehicle through the Black Obelisk’s gates, consorted with suspicious supernaturals and bandits?—”
“I wasn’t consorting with those bandits! They tried to rob me!”
The General ignored my protests. “Not to mention that you keep sneaking off during training. And wherever you go,mayhem breaks loose. The thieves in the mall. The Cursed Ones in the Garden. The armored fiend at the Tournament. The protestors and Rebels in the Emporium.” He counted off the incidents on his fingers. “You were right there every time.”
“So were a lot of people!”
