Page 114 of The Tribes of Magic
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You weren’t this strong a minute ago. You cheated. You couldn’t even shift. You took some kind of strength elixir!”
I started to fold my arms across my chest, but stopped when I felt pain. I settled for planting them on my hips, which hurt less.
“When exactly would I have taken this elixir?” I demanded. “While I was running?”
“Maybe.” Rhett rubbed his bleeding head. “Or maybe you drank some potion earlier, and it took a while to kick in.”
I hadn’t had anything more exciting than a cup of orange juice and some scrambled eggs on toast this morning.
Jareth stepped in and looked us both over. “Rhett’s arm is broken, and he probably has a concussion.” His brows lifted.
“Heran into me,” I said.
“And you still managed to beat the snot out of him. How?”
I was getting so tired of people asking me that question.
“You know what I am.”
“You’re a Polymage. You have the powers of all six Tribes. And yet five minutes ago, you could hardly do thirty pushups. Now all of a sudden you can KO my strongest fighter.”
Rhett glared at me. “She’s cheating.”
“What do I always tell you guys?” Jareth snapped at him. “Know your enemy. Not ‘try to tackle someone stronger than you and get your butt kicked’.”
Dante swallowed a laugh, and it turned into a cough.
Rhett took a moment to shoot him the evil eye, then looked at Jareth. “I’m telling you, coach. She’s cheating!”
“Stop talking before you give yourself any more brain damage.” Jareth considered me closely. “And you! What am I going to do with you, snowflake?”
I forced a smile. “Reward me for my quick thinking in the face of danger?”
Jareth snorted. “It seems the only one who was in danger here was Rhett. I shouldn’t be surprised you beat him. Kato always wins everything. In every Battle of the Tribes.” He sounded a little bitter about that. “It seems Kato is teaching you his Polymage tricks.”
If there was a trick to my magic, I’d sure like to know it. But I didn’t say that. It was better for people to think I was really powerful than for them to know the truth: that I had absolutely no idea how to control my wild magic.
Jareth shook his head. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
I blinked.
“Heal Rhett.”
I blinked again. “Excuse me?”
“You broke him. That means it’s your job to fix him again.”
My mouth hung open.
“You have the powers of all six Tribes. That includes healing.”
Everyone was staring at me. And I just stood there like an idiot.
Finally, I found my voice again. “Just because I’ve used different powers from different Tribes, that doesn’t mean I haveallthe powers of all six Tribes.” I glanced at the five abilitybadges on his shirt. “It’s not like you have all the Metamorph powers.”
His mouth was frowning, but his eyes were laughing. “Bring Rhett to the Clinic. The Sorcerer there will patch him up.”
