The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe) Read Online Free

murdered.”
    He sighed. “I think you know that her death must have been an accident. I realize you have some misguided notions about the government, but I can assure you that we do not set out to slay children. Besides, you must know that no one would ever deliberately kill a Firestarter.”
    I gazed down at Cassie’s picture, acknowledging sourly that he did have a point with that last part. A person would have to be insane or suicidal to murder a Firestarter, because when they die, their bodies release an inferno. It was just such a blaze that had killed my parents, the assessor, and his two enforcer guards. But not Cassie. She had to have been dead before then. Firestarters don’t burn, not while they’re alive.
    I’d learned over the years that it did me no good to wonder exactly how Cassie had died. It wasn’t like there was any way I could ever find out for certain. Except now I couldn’t seem to prevent my mind from crowding with all the questions I’d tried to shut out.
Did she run away from them and fall and hit her head? Did she do something that made one of the enforcers panic and strike out at her? Was she afraid? Was it quick?
And the one that really tormented me:
Did she call out for her big sister?
    Something splashed onto the photograph; to my deep embarrassment, it was a teardrop. I had a sudden, odd awareness of Connor, almost as if he’d moved closer, but a glance backward told me he was standing exactly where he had been before. I rubbed at my eyes angrily, furious with myself for showing weakness.
Get a grip, Ashala!
Neville pushed a handkerchief across the desk, and I picked it up, wiping my face.
I’m tougher than this
.
I am.
Only I didn’t feel tough. I felt vulnerable and raw, as if someone had gone digging around inside me and left all my old wounds exposed.
    “I can see,” Neville told me sympathetically, “why you ran, Ashala. You were grief-stricken and confused. But you’re not twelve years old anymore. You can understand now that our entire society is built on the need to preserve the Balance. That’s why we have accords in the first place. The Necessities-of-Life Accords, which require the governments of the seven cities to provide food, clothing, medicine, and shelter for all. The Benign Technology Accords, to ensure that we never develop the harmful technology that had such disastrous consequences for the old world, such as nuclear power and the genetic modification of crops. And the Citizenship Accords, to prevent Illegals from upsetting the Balance.”
    I wanted to argue, but I still felt teary. So I settled for scowling at him as he continued. “Our society strives to ensure that human existence never again puts the earth in jeopardy. Don’t you think a world like that is worth protecting?”
    “Of course I do!” I answered huskily. “I have no problem with the Benign Technology Accords and the Necessities-of-Life Accords. Or the Advanced Weaponry Accords or the Collective Transportation Accords or any of the others. But the Citizenship Accords are
wrong
. People with abilities are not a threat to the Balance.”
    “I’m afraid you are. You bring forces into being that are too powerful and unstable to be allowed to exist unchecked. It isn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you for it. I genuinely care about you, Ashala.” Nodding at Cassie’s picture, he added, “I know you miss your sister. Perhaps you’d like to keep that photo?”
    I was so muddled with grief that for a second I almost said yes without even thinking about why he’d made the offer. Then I realized what he was doing, and I felt cold all over.
He wants to trade for the picture
. Despite everything I knew about Neville Rose, I’d almost let myself be taken in by his act. Only I was starting to think that the reason he was so convincing was because it wasn’t an act, not to him. Inside his mind, where Neville kept the story of himself, I was certain he believed he was a good man who’d been