Page 21 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)
DIGGING DEEPER
“ S o, do you believe her?”
I was impressed Dutch wasn’t offering his opinion on the matter, given that Zoe was his friend.
“I’m not sure, actually.”
I definitely believed her when she’d told me how much she despised me, but that had nothing to do with Bronte. Maybe Zoe was innocent, maybe she wasn’t.
And where did that leave us?
Nowhere. That’s where. I really hated being nowhere.
I glanced at the Scoreboard that stood between the ruins of the playground and the Oval. The answers I sought were hidden somewhere inside that list of Apprentices. They had to be.
“Rhett. We need to talk to Rhett,” I decided. “Both Zoe’s team and Rhett’s team were working at the Black Obelisk yesterday.”
“Alchemy training,” Dutch said. “They helped the Alchemist Knights install magical upgrades to the Black Obelisk’s defenses.”
Conner had said the Black Obelisk was vulnerable to magical attacks. I guess Kato had advised the General to install those magical upgrades. It was a good idea. Not all supernaturals in the Many Realms were friendly.
“Zoe and Rhett were in the Black Obelisk yesterday,” I said. “They could have gotten into the Watchers’ security system and planted the fake video of Bronte.”
“You’re assuming the video is fake.”
“Of course I’m assuming it’s fake. Because otherwise what are we even doing?”
“So you want to interrogate Rhett.”
“ Talk to him. And yes. We need to dig deeper.”
“Fine, but a word of warning, Savannah. Rhett can be a bit abrasive, even hot-tempered.”
I snorted. “Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Rhett is especially hot-tempered when you tell him something he really doesn’t want to hear. Which you’re about to do.”
“I get it, Dutch. Rhett is your best friend, and you don’t want to wreck that. I have to speak with him. But that doesn’t mean you have to too. If you want to sit this one out?—”
“I don’t sit things out,” he cut me off. “Yes, Rhett is my friend, but you’re my teammate, and I promised I would help you. Knights always keep their promises. It’s like you said, Savannah. If we want to be Knights, we need to act like Knights.”
“Thanks, Dutch.”
“No problem. Everything works out in the end. You now owe me one, Savannah.”
I laughed. “I think I can live with that.” I took a slow, steadying breath. “Ok. Rhett is over there, on the other side of the Oval. Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.”
Rhett and two of his teammates were sitting on the low metal fence that surrounded the Oval, laughing and joking around as they watched the Fixers clean up the area.
One of those teammates was Sara, the ultra-competitive girl who’d yelled at me and Dante on our third day in the Fortress. The other was a boy called Wayne.
Even from a distance, anyone could immediately see that Rhett was the leader. The other two were turned toward him, as though he were the sun in their solar system.
“Rhett.”
His gaze snapped to me the moment I spoke. The corner of his lip twitched. “Savannah Winters. And my man Dutch. Great to see you. Have a seat. Your girlfriend can stay too, if she must.”
“I must,” I said.
The fence rattled when Dutch sat down. I remained standing. The last thing I wanted was to be sitting on that fence when Rhett lost his temper and decided to push me off of it.
“We wanted to talk to you about the Scoreboard.”
“Yeah, that was really weird what happened to your friend Bronte.” Rhett casually pulled his fingers through his short dark hair.
“So, you have no idea how it happened?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Well, I guess it happened because she broke the rules.”
“Or someone made it look like she broke the rules.”
“How would someone do that? I heard there’s video evidence.”
“Videos can be faked.”
Rhett laughed. “That’s crazy talk.”
“Is it? Because to me, the idea of Bronte Vance entering a restricted area is the really crazy story. Anyone who’s met Bronte knows she would never break the rules.”
“Well, I guess you don’t know your friend as well as you think you do.”
“Bronte would never jeopardize her dream of being a Knight. She’s spent her whole life working toward that dream.”
“We all have. But your theory is crazy. Are you really suggesting that someone plotted to get Bronte disqualified?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So that other people could take her place at the top of the Scoreboard.”
Rhett blinked. “Other…people. You mean me .”
“Well, it is your name sitting at the top of the Scoreboard now, isn’t it? And you are a very competitive person, aren’t you?”
“Careful,” Rhett warned me.
I smiled. “I always am.”
“Do you have any evidence at all to support your wild theory?”
My smile faltered.
“Yeah. That’s what I thought. And what do you think, Dutch?”
“I think Bronte Vance doesn’t break the rules.”
“So you think I framed her?”
“Of course not. You’re too dumb to manipulate video files.”
Rhett snorted in appreciation of the statement. “I think we’re done here, Winters. But if you come up with any more baseless accusations, you know where to find me.”
His friends laughed.
“Let’s go, Dutch,” I said. “We’re not going to find any answers here.”
“Come find me if you get tired of hanging out with Little Miss Mission, Dutch!” Rhett called out to him as we walked away.
“So, did you get what you wanted?” Dutch asked me.
“Not really.”
“Rhett didn’t do it.”
I sighed. “You’re just saying that because he’s your friend.”
“No, I’m saying it because I don’t think he did it. Rhett is big and strong and he’s pretty good at memorizing random facts for tests and stuff, but he isn’t a technical genius. Maybe we should try talking to that kid Ansel. He is a technical genius.”
“Ansel didn’t frame Bronte.”
“How do you know?”
“He has no motive. And I just know, ok?”
“Rhett doesn’t know the first thing about hacking into security systems and modifying videos.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. He could have had help. He could have made someone alter the video files for him. What do you know about Sara and Wayne?”
“You’re grasping at straws, and you know it, Savannah.”
“I think Rhett is jealous of Bronte. I think he and some of his teammates changed Bronte’s records while they were in the Black Obelisk this morning. All I have to do to prove it is break into the Watchers’ headquarters.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes, Dutch. We’re heading back to the Black Obelisk. One way or another, we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”