Page 40 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

THE LOCKER INCIDENT

T he Apprentices were scheduled for another dinner with the Knights in the Castle’s dining hall, so Kato drove us there in the Watchers’ SUV.

We dropped off Conner before we went there.

The Knights were a lot better at seeing through invisibility spells than the Watchers, as I’d learned during my secret stealth operation at the Black Obelisk.

Altair had let me go because he knew I was right.

I wasn’t sure he’d extend the same courtesy to Conner, a Rebel.

Besides, Conner was pretty adamant that he was going to start investigating the General immediately.

I wasn’t convinced it was the General, but I wasn’t convinced it wasn’t the General either.

All I knew was I was hungry, and I was not going on another Quest before I’d had something to eat—something that preferably included dessert—and a good night’s sleep.

“Remember the story and keep to it.”

Kato and I were walking down the path toward the door that led into the dining hall. It was summer and the days were long, so the sun hadn’t set yet. It had painted the sky in striking shades of orange and pink, though. I was glad the rain clouds had cleared away so we could enjoy the sunset.

At least I was enjoying it. Kato was still talking me through our story.

“A lie only works if it’s consistent.”

Kato didn’t like to lie, but when he had to, he did it in a very orderly fashion. He was so adorably organized.

Our story was Kato had a lead on the Rebels today.

One source led to another, led to another, until he had to speak to a ghost to proceed further.

Kato can’t speak to ghosts. Neither can any of the other Knights.

The only person he knew who could speak to ghosts was me, so he recruited me for his Quest.

The ghost led us to a Rebel camp in the Dark Woods, but the Rebels were already gone. Kato had some photos of the supposed Rebel campsite on his phone. He’d staged the scene pretty convincingly.

Kato could have said he’d recruited me for my power to repel Cursed Ones in the Dark Woods, but he didn’t want people—aka especially the General—to know about my weird ability.

If he learned what I did to the Cursed Ones, he would exploit my power.

Kato figured he’d place me at the front of the army to keep the Cursed Ones back, then try to steamroll over them and reclaim all the lost lands around former Sydney in one fell swoop.

That would put me in the dead center of a war zone, which Kato was adamant he wouldn’t let happen to me. Most especially until I could control my power better—and even then, most definitely not.

Those were his words, not mine.

“Ok, we’re here. Are you feeling up to this?” Kato turned to look me over.

We were standing just outside the dining hall. Even through the closed doors, I could hear the sounds of dinner. I could smell the tantalizing aromas of dinner too. A fresh wave of hunger hit me.

“I’m fine,” I told him.

I was ready to face the masses. Undoubtedly, Kato’s story had spread through the whole Castle by now.

“My power nap in the car did the trick. My energy is back.”

So was my hunger, but we weren’t talking about that.

Kato had one hand on the door. The other was on my shoulder. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. It’s time. I can’t hide out here forever.”

So with our stories straight and our heads held high, Kato and I stepped into the dining hall. We walked down the center aisle to pointed fingers, raised brows, and a chorus of oohs. Kato ignored them all.

He especially ignored Jareth, who gave us a big thumbs up. “Way to go, Team Kato!”

Kato joined some Knights at one of the tables. I went to go sit with the Apprentices. We acted totally casual, all the way.

Bronte pounced on me the moment I sat down.

“You went on a quest with the White Knight. You talked to ghosts. You can do that? Since when have you been able to talk to ghosts, Savannah? You got to leave the Fortress. That’s incredible!

What was it like in the Dark Woods? Did you encounter any Cursed Ones?

I can’t imagine facing them again, not after… ”

I tuned out Bronte and focused on hunting down my dinner.

Bowls and plates were spread all down the long table.

Mashed potatoes. Green beans. Steamed carrots.

Thyme chicken—I really hoped that one had regular thyme, not Magic Thyme.

Vanilla yogurt. Garlic bread. Cucumber salad.

Sweet potatoes. Roasted potatoes. Boiled potatoes.

There sure were a lot of potatoes today.

Pizza. Pasta, in at least six varieties. Tomato sauce. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Chocolate chip cookies. Apple pie. Cherry pie. Banana bread. Ice cream.

My eyes must have wandered into the dessert section.

I backtracked to the mains and sides. There were so many choices.

I opted for the carrots, the mashed potatoes, and because I probably needed protein after expending all that magic today, the thyme chicken, which was in fact made with regular thyme rather than the magical herb of the same name.

Dante watched me load up my plate, his eyes dancing with amusement. “That’s all for you?”

“Of course. I’m hungry.”

“I heard you were busy today.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

I was glad my mouth was full, so I didn’t have to say more.

I didn’t mind lying to protect Kato and Conner, but I preferred not to lie to my brother.

I had to in this case and in this place, of course.

Secrets weren’t safe when too many people knew about them.

And there were a lot of ears listening right now.

It was neither the time nor the place to tell anyone about the traitors in the Government.

“You left.”

I looked at Dutch, who was frowning at me. “Sorry. Couldn’t be helped.”

“The White Knight called, and you had to answer?”

I shrugged, smiling. “Something like that.”

“When you disappeared, that left just two of us against six in the other team,” Bronte said.

“Of those six, only Ansel was an actual threat. He single-handedly won the Quest for his whole team.”

Dutch had a voice that carried, so it wasn’t surprising that Ansel heard him. He shot Dutch a grin and a big thumbs up from his spot further down the table. Ansel was really enjoying his victory, and so he should. Dutch and his Victory friends hadn’t been the nicest to him.

With his piece said, Dutch fell quiet and went back to eating.

Bronte wasn’t so easily appeased. “I know for a fact you gave Nevada one of the answers when Altair was quizzing us, Savannah. You know the material. You could have helped us. We could have won this. If only you had stayed.”

Bronte sighed, then pulled out a book and sulked over it for the rest of dinner. The book included running and fitness tips, which reminded me: tomorrow we had Metamorph training with Team Victory.

One problem at a time. One problem at a time.

I turned to Nevada. “So, did Altair end up poisoning anyone today?”

“No. Ansel mixed up a general antidote and gave it to both teams. After Altair heard about Ansel’s antidote, he said he’d decided there was no reason to poison anyone anymore. But better safe than sorry, right? Altair was a little annoyed that you left, Savannah. Here’s your dose.”

She slipped a vial of green-brown liquid into my hand. Mmm, appetizing. I plugged my nose and chugged it down. Then I helped myself to some ice cream. I’d earned it.

As I ate it, Dante shared the latest Castle gossip with Nevada. “Did you hear about the Watchers?”

“What about them?”

“A whole team of them came to the Castle earlier today to ‘investigate suspicious activity’, whatever that means.”

“It means whatever they want it to mean, as always.”

Or it could mean Conner and I had set off some alarms earlier when we’d visited the Castle, and the Watchers came to investigate. I kept quiet and waited to hear the rest of the story.

“When was this?” Nevada asked.

“Sometime in the afternoon.”

So after Conner and I had already left the Castle. Which meant the Watchers hadn’t come here for us.

“The Watchers did a locker check,” Dante said. “A very thorough one too. They opened up all of the storage lockers and looked inside. They even checked one of the lockers like four or five times, like they were afraid they’d missed something.”

“Which locker was that?”

“106.”

I was about to grab some cherry pie, but Dante’s words shocked me so much that I forgot all about that. 106. That was the locker I’d put the Paragons’ spellbook in this morning after breakfast. But how could the Watchers possibly know about that?

And then it hit me. The spy. The General’s spy.

The one who was watching my every move and reporting it back to him.

They must have told the General about the book and where I’d put it.

Intrigued and possibly outraged by the idea of a seemingly blank book that I could obviously read, he’d sent the Watchers to retrieve it.

If I hadn’t come back here to get the book for my Quest with Conner, it would have been in that locker when the Watchers searched it. They would have taken it and given it to the General.

Nevada had been right to warn me this morning. I wasn’t just being paranoid. Kato wasn’t just being paranoid. Someone was really watching me, noting everything I did and relaying it all to the General. The big question was who.