Page 69 of The Tree of Spirits
I rolled my eyes. “Tell that to the bump on my head. The good guys don’t hurt innocent people.”
“We didn’t hurt you. At least not on purpose. We…well, we kind of dropped you on the way back here.” Angel gave me a sheepish look.
“So you’re not evil; you’re just clumsy?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Then untie me.”
Her brows drew together in confusion. “What?”
“Untie me. If you’re not evil, then you’ll let me go.”
Cedar stepped in front of her. “We can’t do that. Not until you’ve answered a few questions.”
“Such as?”
He grew silent for a few moments, pacing in front of me. Then he spun around to face me and said, “Tell us what you and the General talked about.”
“Well, first we braided each other’s hair, and then we moved on to manicures.”
“Wow. Youdospeak your mind, don’t you?” Angel laughed softly.
“How do you know that about me?”
“We’ve been watching you.”
“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘spying’,” I snapped back. “You’ve been spying on me? Why?”
“We’ll be asking the questions here,” Cedar said sternly. “And you’ll answer them.”
“Yeah, because I’msogood at following the rules.” I saturated my words with plenty of sarcasm. “If you’ve really been spying on me, then you must already know that you can’t bully me.”
“Tell me about your conversation with the General,” Cedar said again. “What did you tell him about us? Did you reveal any of our secrets?”
“Uh, that would be pretty hard to do since I don’t know anything about you,” I said. “Or your secrets.”
Angel exchanged looks with Cedar. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?” she asked him.
Cedar shrugged. “Better set her on fire just to be sure.”
“Set me on fire?” I croaked. I pushed against the ropes holding me, but they didn’t budge. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!”
“He’s just kidding,” Angel said, but the way she shooed Cedar away from me was not very convincing. “We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to talk. Tell us what you told the General about us.”
“I didn’t tell him anything about you,” I said for the two-hundred-and-twentieth time. “Because I don’t know anything about you.”
“Did you reveal the locations of our hideouts?” Cedar asked me.
“No, because I don’t know where any of your hideouts are. I don’t even know where I am.”
This conversation made my brain hurt. I tried to rub my head—but then I remembered my hands were tied to a stupid pole.
“The General is a frightening man,” Angel said, her voice sympathetic. “We totally understand how you could be frightened into telling him our secrets.”
“FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON’T KNOW ANY OF YOUR SECRETS!”
Cedar shook his head. “Speaking a lie very loudly doesn’t make it true.”
