Matthew Silver and the Monster Hunters, Book One: The Darkest Waters

Chapter Thirty-Five

SilverCHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Ms. Amber was gazing intensely at Jay. It wasn’t a glare, but it was about just as close as you could get. She spoke again in an ominously dangerous undertone. “You should be more careful with the questions you throw about, Miss Jade.”

Jay carelessly inspected her nails and switched her crossed legs. “Why? Is there something to hide?”

Ms. Amber’s voice was even lower and even more dangerous. “I’m only going to say this once, so you’d better listen well. Never repeat any of what you have just said of ever again. I don’t care if it’s in private, or even if it’s talking to an Administrator. Never, and I mean never say that again.”

“Or what?”Jay challenged.

I wanted to scream at her to stop, but she kept that stupid, carefree look on her face.

Ms. Amber’s face turned as red as her hair. “Or you will be convicted of the highest treason against the CCU and the country, and you will spend the rest of your years in a federal prison with no hope for release.”

We all stared at her in shock with white faces. Jay was even taken back for a second, but she recovered quickly, and her face twisted into a vicious glare. “I’m only going to say this once, so you’d better listen well! Who are the Great Ones and the Masters? What is the Awakening? What does this have to do with the Shadows?”

I tried stepping in between and undoing some of the damage done. “She doesn’t mean it, ma’am! It’s been a long day, and we’re all tired, and—”

“Sit,”she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”I sat down so quickly, I almost missed the chair.

“I should take your badge away for this,”Ms. Amber said. I had a heart attack, until I realized that she was talking to Jay. Then I had another heart attack.

Jay returned the look. “You don’t need to do that. I’m already surrendering it. So why don’t you tell us all now? You call us your best agents. You say you can trust us and count on us, so put your money where your mouth is. If you trust us so much, surely you can tell us a little story, can’t you?”

“You have no idea what you’re asking,”Ms. Amber said, attempting to back out of the corner she was now in. No one could argue better than Jay could. It was like she knew exactly what to say.

“We’ll have a good idea if you just tell us,”I put in for my partner’s sake.

“Is it against the rules to tell us?”Sandy asked.

“No Administrator would dare tell anyways, so no. There is no rule against it.”

“Then I don’t see the harm in hearing what you have to say. I think we’ve earned that much.”

Ms. Amber looked like she was going to explode for a second, but she lowered her head in resignation. “You would have found out eventually.”She looked up quickly with flashing eyes. “What I’m about to say stays in this room with the five of us! No one else hears, you understand me? No one!”

We all nodded.

“Good. Now, as for the Great Ones.”She paused dramatically. “Everyone believes in a right or a wrong, right?”

“Um, we already know what the Great Ones are. We’ve heard the whole horror story already,”I said.

“Oh, you have, have you?”Ms. Amber asked slyly. “Well then, I suppose you must already know that the Shadows are the true reason that the CCU was formed? No? I did not think so. The truth is this: the legend of the Shadows is true.”