Page 13 of The Tribes of Magic
Where had Ainsley come from all of a sudden? Had she been watching us all along?
Dutch groaned, clutching his head like it hurt. “What did you do to us, Victoria?”
“She bewitched you, Dutch. She bewitched all of you.”
The Apprentices’ smiles soured.
Ainsley beamed at Victoria like she couldn’t be prouder that she’d robbed her fellow Apprentices of their freewill, but her smile faded when her gaze fell on me. “Most of you anyway.Polymages,” she sighed. “You will need to put considerably more magic behind your spell to subjugate other Elves, Victoria.” She sighed again. “Or Polymages.”
“And what if I don’t want tosubjugateanyone?” Victoria said meekly.
“Your scruples will soon fall to the wayside,” Ainsley replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Yeah, because we wouldn’t want a pesky thing like morality to get in the way,” I blurted out.
In unison, Bronte and Dutch buried their faces in their hands.
Ainsley’s perfect mouth drew into a tight line. “Do you have something to say, Apprentice?”
“Only that we shouldn’t be so quick to abandon our scruples. They are, after all, what tell us right from wrong. Knights are supposed to be honorable.” I gave her a brief, tight smile. “I’m pretty sure that’s somewhere in the Code of Conduct.”
“Careful, Savannah. The General does not tolerate insubordination.” Ainsley’s gaze flickered to the ceiling.
I hadn’t noticed the camera mounted there, but I did now. Great. The General was probably watching us right now, thinking up new ways to kick me out of the Apprentice Program.
Ainsley hazarded a sympathetic look at me, then she turned and walked across the kitchen without another word of warning.
I guess she was afraid of the General too.
“Well, that was close,” Dutch muttered.
“Do you really think this is over?” Bronte shook her head. “Then you weren’t listening to what Ainsley said aboutpatienceandplanning.”
“You think she’s going to find a way to get back at Savannah for talking back to her?” Dutch asked.
“That’s crazy,” I laughed. “Ainsley isn’t like that.”
“Come on, Savannah. How much do youtrulyknow her? How well do you know any of the Knights, for that matter?”
“Well enough to know Ainsley isn’t a mean, vindictive person, Bronte. She’s nice. Right?”
I looked at my teammates for confirmation. Bronte sighed, and that said it all.
“Nice going, Savannah. This is exactly what you shouldnotdo if you want to earn points on the Scoreboard.”
Dutch was right, of course, but the Scoreboard was not what I was worried about right now. Bronte thought Ainsley would think up a way to get back at me, but what if she’dalreadyworked against me? Kato thought someone at the Castle was watching me and reporting everything I did back to the General.
I’d always thought Ainsley was so nice, but what if I didn’t know her at all? What if she was the one who’d told the General I was a Polymage? What if she was the Knight spying on me?
CHAPTER 5
THE MAGIC MARK
Ihad to find out if Ainsley was the General’s spy in the Castle. So instead of standing idly beside the other Apprentices by the door like I was supposed to, I followed the Knight deeper into the kitchen. She must have sensed me sneaking around behind her, though, because I didn’t make it far before she pivoted around.
I quickly darted behind a wall stocked full of high-tech kitchen appliances. I should have looked first. In my haste, I nearly ran into the chef working there.
The woman’s eyes grew wide as they took me in. “Hey, I know you.”
