Page 23 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

Dutch had stayed mostly quiet up to this point.

The fact that he chose to speak now meant something.

So did the sorrowful, determined, defeated desperation in his eyes.

He wanted to discover his magic more than anything, and it hurt him that it hadn’t happened yet.

That was the downside to being an overachiever.

When things didn’t happen immediately, you felt like you’d failed.

“It will happen, Dutch,” I told him. “You will find your magic.”

“I know.”

There was a sharp, brittle rigidity to his voice. If only there were something I could do to help him.

“You see, Savannah?” Altair said. “You are in a uniquely privileged position. You’ve already discovered your magic. You know where you belong. It’s no wonder the other Apprentices are jealous of you.”

Huh. I’d never considered anyone could be jealous of me.

“It’s likely why many of them are giving you the cold shoulder,” Altair said.

The cold shoulder. And the icy glares. Altair’s theory also explained all the snide comments. I’d thought it was strange, the other Apprentices being even meaner to me after I’d saved them from the Techno Knights than they’d been before.

“They’re jealous of me? You are jealous of me, Dutch?” I turned to my teammate.

For the briefest of moments, a micro-cringe escaped his stoic composure.

“I’m sorry, Dutch. I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I can still run faster than you can.”

“Yes, you certainly can,” I laughed. It wasn’t a happy laugh, but it wasn’t a sad one either.

“So, there you go, Savannah,” Altair said. “Things can’t be that bad if other people are envious of you.”

“If they’re envious, they might act out, right?”

“And do what exactly?”

“Spy on me for the General. Not just to tell him about my magic,” I added quickly. “But also to tell him other things.”

“What kinds of things?”

“I don’t know. Everything I get up to.”

“Which brings us back to my advice to you: keep your head low, mind your own business, and try not to make waves.”

He said it like those things were easy.

“Look, Savannah, if one of the Apprentices is spying on you for the General, there’s really nothing you can do to stop them,” Altair said.

“Except figure out who they are and make them stop,” I grumbled.

“The spy could just as easily be one of the Knights.”

“Like you.”

He laughed. “You don’t believe that.”

“I might.”

“If you thought I was a spy for the General, you wouldn’t have asked for my help breaking into the Watchers’ video surveillance records. And we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, yes, you’re right. I don’t think it’s you. But it could still be Ainsley. She was acting so weird to me yesterday, and I know she can’t be jealous of me. She discovered her magic long before I became an Apprentice.”

“Ainsley was acting weird because she’s under a lot of pressure,” Altair told me. “All the Knights are. The General has us all under very tight surveillance.”

“Why?”

“He believes the Rebels have infiltrated the Castle.”

“The General is paranoid.”

“Is he? All the Knights know what happened at the Spirit Tree in the Park, Savannah. We know Conner was there, working with you and Kato.”

“Conner helped us save all the Spirit Trees! That has to count for something.”

“Not to the General. To the General, Conner is an enemy. No, he’s the enemy, the leader of the Rebels. He represents what the General fears most.”

“Rebellion.”

“Yes. Specifically, the Knights rebelling and him losing control over us. Because without us—without magic—Gaia has no status in the Many Realms. And no chance of being accepted into the Court.”

“Oh.”

Altair nodded. “That is why there are more cameras everywhere, Watchers everywhere, and paranoia everywhere. There are a lot of cameras at the conference center, in particular, due to the importance of the Summit. When Ainsley acted ‘weird’ to you, she knew the Watchers were watching. She has a younger sister hoping to be Chosen next year. She doesn’t want to give the Government any reason to think she’s rebellious, any reason to reject her sister. ”

“I didn’t know.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know, Savannah Winters. You will, of course, learn them all in good time, but there is one lesson you should learn now.”

“Which is?”

Altair sighed. “Though the Knights have the magic, the Government has the power.” He tapped the display console in front of us. “There. That’s your evidence, Savannah. The footage implicating Bronte Vance was indeed manufactured. The false files were uploaded to the system just this morning.”

“Do you know who did it?”

Altair’s hand swished across the screen, scrolling past pages of text. Videos were sprinkled across the multiple displays. Any time Altair paused for more than a second, they started autoplaying.

“Yes,” he said. “The fake video was added by Rhett Wilson.”

“I knew it.”

Altair swiped backwards a few times, backing out of the system. The displays all switched to power-saving mode.

“So there you have it, Savannah,” he said. “That’s what you need to clear your friend’s name.”