Page 54 of The Tribes of Magic
A man was waiting inside the office, his large hands stuffed into the too-small pockets of his fancy black pants. As soon as he saw me, he freed his hands and rushed forward to greet me. “Savannah Winters! So glad to see you, so glad to see you.” He gave me a long and rigorous handshake.
“Uh, nice to see you too,” I said. “But who are you?”
“I beg your pardon, Miss Winters. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Gregory Vance, Mayor of Killfield.”
“You’re Bronte’s dad?”
“Indeed.”
“But this isn’t your office.”
His grin was practiced, like he was used to standing in front of a camera. “How did you guess?”
“We aren’t in Killfield.”
“Yes, I borrowed my friend Angus’s office. Angus Black, the Mayor of the Interchange.”
The Interchange was hardly larger than the train station, which itself consisted of only a few platforms, several shops, and the Spirit Tree.
“Small district,” I commented.
Mayor Vance nodded, still smiling. “Indeed it is. So, shall we get down to business? I suppose you know why Mrs. Vance and I have asked you here?”
“I take it this has something to do with Bronte?”
“Yes, of course.” He paced a few times in front of me, then stopped to look at his daughter, who was hiding under the desk, gripping one of the legs so hard that her knuckles had gone snow white. “Savannah, you’re quite famous in the Fortress for your ability to solve big problems.”
That was a nice way of putting it. Most people, in particular my fellow Apprentices, would have called my talent for solving mysteriesinfamous. And so would the mayor himself, just a few minutes ago, I was willing to bet. The Vances seemed like good, decent folks, the sort of people who believed the law was infallible, and all you had to do was follow it and everything would turn out perfectly for you.
I guess they’d changed their minds.
“We need you to use your skills to help Bronte,” said Mayor Vance.
“I don’t see what I can do,” I replied honestly. “Once the General makes a decision, there’s nothing anyone can do to change it.” I shook my head. “Especially not a mere Apprentice.”
The General did not like teenagers. He thought we were all ticking time bombs, just waiting to go off. He must havereallyhated that the Government needed us.
“It wasn’t the General who removed Bronte from the Program. He hasn’t even been to the Black Obelisk today. He’s been caught up in Government meetings all day. Someone else did this to our daughter, a senator. He’s filling in for the General today. Senator Gaines.”
“I’ve heard of him. So you want me to change his mind? You want me to convince him to reinstate Bronte? I’m not sure that’s possible.”
“We’re not asking you to change the Senator’s mind.” Mrs. Vance smoothed out her perfect blonde bun. Her hair was pulled back so tightly, it stretched her skin. “We’re asking you to prove Bronte’s innocence.”
“I don’t understand.” I exchanged a look with Dutch. “What exactly does Senator Gaines think Bronte did wrong?”
Mayor Vance cleaned his glasses with the corner of his vest. “Bronte was disqualified for suspicious activity.”
“What kind of suspicious activity?”
Mayor Vance kept on cleaning his glasses, even though they were already spotless. “Senator Gaines discovered that Bronte—allegedly—wandered into a restricted area. Apparently, she was caught in the act on video surveillance.”
Bronte wandering into a restricted area? No way. I didn’t care if they caught her on camera. I just couldn’t believe it. That wasn’t Bronte.
A couple weeks ago, during one of our assessments, she’d had a panic attack when she thought her test pencil was a few millimeters too short. She thought she’d lose points if anyone ‘caught’ her with that pencil. Someone like that would rather self-destruct than break the rules.
“I’ll do everything I can to clear Bronte’s name and get to the bottom of this,” I promised her father.
“Thank you.” A tentative smile touched his lips. A smile full of hope.
