Page 37 of The Tree of Spirits
We’d returned to the big street, once more surrounded by mainstream magic shops. Outside ofPretty Little Potions, a TV replayed the General’s press conference from this morning. I turned away. I didn’t want to hear aboutOperation: Free Gaia. I didn’t want to think about all those Knights in danger.
So I looked at Rane with a conspiring wink. “Have you seen all those stuffy nobles around town, making a spectacle of themselves?”
“I saw Prince Fenris’s girlfriend. She stopped by the shop earlier today, asking if we possibly sold any flowers that aren’t so terriblycommon.” Rane rolled her eyes. “People have a nickname for her, you know. They call her the Dreadful Duchess.”
I snorted. “She and Fenris certainly deserve each other.”
Rane looked at me in surprise. “You know the vampire prince?”
“He ran into me once. And then blamed me for it, of course. He’s a realcharmer.” I saturated that last sentence with plenty of sarcasm.
“And then there was that lovely interview he gave yesterday on MRNN.” Rane’s attention flickered to the nearest TV, which showed footage of the Knights marching through the Park’s gates early this morning.
So much for not thinking about the General’s operation.
“Oh, you saw Fenris’s interview, did you?” I asked Rane.
“Savannah,everyonesaw it. That was the whole point. Prince Fenris is a very manipulative man. He egged on your Government. And they took the bait. Hours after Fenris fired that shot across their bow, they sent the Knights into the Park to drive out the Cursed Ones.”
“The thing I don’t get iswhywould Fenris want that?” I bit my lip. “What does he gain?”
Rane shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he expects the Quest to fail and wants all the Many Realms to be watching when it does. That would explain why he’s making such a big show out of it. Then again, Metamorphs make a big show out of everything.” She sighed.
“Why am I getting the feeling that this is about those ‘problems’ of yours you mentioned earlier?”
“Because you’re really perceptive.” She sighed again. “Yesterday someone robbed Raytan’s Removals. That’s the biggest hauling company here in the Emporium. It’s run by Metamorphs.”
“That’s terrible, but why does it haveyouso upset?” I asked her.
“Because that’s the company my parents booked to remove our dead tree. Raytan’s crew was supposed to do it today, but because all their heavy trucks were stolen, they have no idea when they’ll be able to take away the tree. And this treereallyhas to go. Our neighbors are already complaining.”
“Well, those neighbors also killed your tree, so…” I shrugged.
“Ah, but they claim they had nothing to do with it. The Watchers even had them take a lie-detector test, and they passed.” She made a gagging gesture. “The liars obviously faked the test. They’re Alchemists, for crying out loud! They could have easily hacked the machine or taken some potion to manipulate their bodily functions.”
“You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?” I asked her.
“More than the Watchers have. They just let the crooks go.” Rane clenched her fists. “But they aren’t the only neighbors who are complaining about our dead tree. All the other ones are too. In fact, they’re all making such a fuss that the GaianGovernment is threatening to evict us if we don’t take care of this immediately. Apparently, it would cause a diplomatic incident for them if our dead tree dropped a branch on one of the high-brow dignitaries from the Many Realms Court.”
The Government was right to be worried. I’d seen how obnoxious those so-called dignitaries could be. If the Dreadful Duchess got so worked up about the wrong ice cubes in her drink, I could only imagine what she’d do if a dead tree branch fell on her head.
“Ok,” I said.
“Ok?”
“Let me see if I can’t get those Metamorphs their stuff back, so they can remove your tree before it knocks any nitpicking nobles on their rear ends.”
Rane beamed at me. “Thanks, Savannah! I knew I could count on you!”
CHAPTER 4
YOUR BUSINESS IS MY BUSINESS
I’d never seen a ceiling of stars before.
The whole ceiling was full of them, metal stars dangling from transparent strings. Those stars looked like old cookie cutters. Some of the strings had come unraveled, so a few stars dipped lower than the others. One of them hung so low that it had fallen inside the orbit of the slowly spinning ceiling fan. Each time the fan came back around, there was a hollowding!of light tin flicking off the hard wood blades.
This wasboring.
