Page 53 of The Tribes of Magic
I was so excited and surprised by this new development that it took me a few moments to notice who wasn’t on the list but should have been: Bronte.
I turned to look at my friend. Bronte’s unblinking eyes were glued to the Scoreboard, panning up and down it over and over again, like she was trapped in a never-ending nightmare. Her lips quivered, and her knees buckled. She collapsed. Dutch and I caught her just before she fell.
All the while, Bronte kept muttering, “What happened, what happened, what happened…”
CHAPTER 4
THE FALL
It was right in front of me in big, bold text, but I still couldn’t believe it. Even as I stared at the names on the Scoreboard, my mind couldn’t process what I was seeing—and what Iwasn’tseeing. A name that was not on the list but should have been. A name no one had ever doubted would be there.
Bronte Vance.
I glanced at Bronte, who was still gripping my right arm like she was drowning.
“We’re already down two teammates. We can’t lose another.” Dutch was so stunned, his lips were hardly moving at all. “Something is wrong. It can’t be. Bronte was in first place. If they can kick her out of the Program, they can kick out anyone.” His eyes met mine. “Savannah, you have to fix this.”
If only I knew how. But none of this made any sense at all.
Bronte’s words echoed my thoughts. “I don’t understand how this happened,” she muttered.
Zoe’s face glowed with delight. A big smirk was painted on her face. “It’s justice. Bronte Vance—the star student, the perfect princess, her high-and-mighty highness—has been kicked off theScoreboard. You’re not there.” Zoe shoved her finger in Bronte’s face. “ButIam.”
Sure enough, Zoe was still there. Everyone was, except Bronte. How could Zoe be there and not Bronte? It just wasn’t right.
“How is this even possible?” Bronte wondered.
Some of the Apprentices in the crowd were asking the very same thing.
Ms. Featherdale had the answer. “Bronte Vance has been disqualified.”
“Disqualified?” Bronte muttered weakly. “How?”
Zoe chomped down on that bit of news like a tiger on a fat chunk of steak. “Ooh, it looks like I was talking to the wrong cheater, Bronte.” She laughed. “You must have done somethingreallybad if they disqualified you. Maybe you’ll even be exiled.”
She looked delighted by the idea.
“Exiled.” Bronte’s legs collapsed, and she sank like a dead weight.
Dutch and I could barely hold her up.
The word ‘disqualified’ slithered through the shocked crowd. All eyes were on Bronte. The whole thing was unthinkable. Bronte had dominated the top spot on the Scoreboard since day one.
Whispers of ‘the cheater’ bubbled up from the crowd, followed by ‘finally punished’. And then what was left of Bronte’s composure finally crumbled. She slouched over and tried to make herself very small. It didn’t work of course. Everyone was looking at her.
A tall and bony woman swept through the crowd, her head held high. She was far stronger than she looked. She lifted Bronte into her arms as though she weighed nothing.
Then she looked at me. “You must be Savannah Winters.”
“How did you?—”
“I’m Isla Vance,” she said. “Bronte’s mother.”
“Mrs. Vance?” I looked at Dutch, who shrugged like he didn’t know what was going on here either. “What are you doing here?”
“Please come with me. Bring your teammate.”
Mrs. Vance carried Bronte through the sea of snickering Apprentices. Dutch and I followed her down the street and entered the Interchange. We took the escalator to a level that overlooked the train tracks. Soon we came to a small office building, an anomaly among the tall skyscrapers.
