Page 91 of The Tribes of Magic
“People can be so cruel,” she said again.
“Not all of them, Nevada. Look.”
Marlow, the charming Scavenger, was helping Michelle gather up all the fallen bottles. A trio of troublemakers was closing in, mischief clearly on their minds, but they scattered and ran when Marlow shot them a fiery glare.
“Gaia is divided,” Nevada said.
“Yes, we are,” I agreed. “More and more divided every day. And if we don’t change course hard and fast, we’ll be heading into a civil war.”
CHAPTER 3
POTIONS AND POWDERS
Altair brought us to Miss Christie’s Shop of Magical Curiosities. There, between the aisles of potions and powders, under the disapproving glower of the tight-faced shopkeeper, the Knight quizzed us on our knowledge of magical ingredients.
We failed miserably. Well, except for Ansel. He was a natural Alchemist—as Altair was very pleased to point out.
“Might I suggest you all apply yourselves as well as Mr. Andersen here has? Good heavens! Is he theonlyApprentice here who completed last night’s reading?”
Nevada leaned in closer to me. “I did the reading,” she muttered. “I just couldn’t remember all those scientific-sounding names.”
Even Bronte looked frazzled. She’d run her hands through her perfect hair so many times that it was anything but perfect anymore. In fact, it looked even messier than mine. Bronte’s gaze was snapping up and down her phone screen, searching for the answers to Altair’s questions. I hoped she was all right. She’d been off her game ever since the Scoreboard incident.
But Nevada found Bronte’s minor mental breakdown reassuring. “Nice to know I’m not the only one struggling. IfBronte Vance, Star of the Scoreboard, is having trouble, Altair’s expectations are clearly far too high.”
“Ansel doesn’t think so.”
“Yeah, well, Ansel’s a genius. He probably figured out a way to download the entire contents of that five-hundred page Alchemy encyclopedia right into his brain.”
I chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Miss Rey, Miss Winters, would you care to share what it is that’s so much more interesting than this Discovery Quest?”
Oh, crap. Busted. I looked at Altair, and he was not smiling.
“Perhaps you were discussing the many beneficial properties of ingesting Fairy Moss? Please, enlighten us.”
Every single Apprentice was looking at us.
“Well, the?—”
“Not you, Miss Winters. Her.” Altair’s gaze snapped to Nevada.
She tried to suppress a startled squeak, but I was pretty sure everyone heard it. A few of them chuckled. They stopped when Altair looked at them.
His gaze returned to Nevada. “Miss Rey?”
“Um…” Sweat dripped down her face.
I felt so bad for her, I had to help her. I projected the answer into her mind.Ingesting Fairy Moss doesn’t include many beneficial properties, unless you count blurred vision and vomiting among them.
She repeated my words back to Altair verbatim. “Ingesting Fairy Moss doesn’t include many beneficial properties, unless you count blurred vision and vomiting among them.”
As far as poisons go, it’s one to be avoided.
“As far as poisons go, it’s one to be avoided.”
Some Metamorphs consume Fairy Moss, believing it builds bigger muscles.
