Page 139 of The Tribes of Magic
“So, what now, boss?” Conner asked me with an enigmatic arch of his brows.
“Why does she get to be the boss?” Kato complained.
Conner shrugged. “She’s smarter than you.”
Kato frowned at him. “I think I liked things better when we weren’t talking.”
“Well, I sure didn’t. Life was dull without you, Kato.”
Kato blinked. “Yeah.”
“Whoa, are you crying?”
“No.” Kato blinked again. “I’ve got something in my eye.”
“It must be somethingbigto make all those tears.” Conner’s eyes lit up with mischief.
Kato turned to me. “Permission to set Conner on fire, boss.”
I laughed. “Denied. You two will just have to work out your problems like civilized people.”
“That doesn’t sound like very much fun,” Conner commented with a frown.
“Knights are supposed to be civilized.”
Conner’s smile was back and brighter than ever before. “Well, I guess that’s why I’m not a Knight anymore. Being civilized is boring.”
Kato rolled his eyes. “You might as well say ‘behaving myself is boring’.”
“Exactly! I’ll make a Rebel of you yet!”
“I’d rather eat rocks.”
Chuckling, Conner patted him hard on the back.
Kato looked at me. “So, what’s the plan?”
“The plan?”
“You are the boss. And the boss gets to come up with the plan,” Kato said.
Conner gave me a big thumbs up.
“If you want to be the boss of the anti-kidnapping task force, you need to have a plan.”
“I never said I wanted to be the boss, Kato. Conner volunteered me for the job.”
“In that case, I volunteer to take the job ofbossoff your hands.”
“Sure you do.” Conner snorted. “But if Red doesn’t want to be the boss, then I’ll do the job.”
“I don’t think either of you should be in charge,” I decided. “Your methods are morally questionable.”
“Then take charge. Tell us what the plan is,” Conner said.
“Only if you both first agree to do things my way from now on,” I said. “No sneaking people truth serum.” I looked at Kato. “Or charming them with magic in order to drag confessions out of them before you wipe their memories clean.”
“We promise to do things your way from now on,” Conner said solemnly. “Right, Kato?”
