Uncontrollable

Chapter Twelve

"No." The words came out of my mouth having a finalizing tone. I'd made my decision, and I was going to stick by it.

"What do you mean?" a man asked from the other end of the table. I looked toward him and was immediately taken aback by his eyes. They were a fiery mix of red and orange. It was as if someone had taken fire and and put bits of it in each of his irises.

It startled me, but I quickly regained my composure.

"I am not fighting in this war. I am not going to become a chess piece for you to play in a war that is your problem," I stated in a matter-of-fact tone. And when I said it, I meant every bit of it. I was not going to get involved in a war that wasn't my problem.

"Our problem?" another man yelled in outrage, veins on his neck bulging.

"Yes," I answered calmly, clasping my hands together. "I didn't even know that there was some magical tension around the world until Grey here told me about it. I have never come across another wizard before, and I have never done anything to harm a wizard. In my book that shows that it isn't my problem and I don't have to get involved."

"And what about the others who have been chasing you around and trying to steal your powers? You remember that group? Do you think that they will just one day decide to stop trying for no reason?" Grey asked in a tone so condescending it took all I had not to freeze him then and there. 

"So this was your plan all along, Grey? To bring me here and try to coax me into joining a war with you?" I shot back, defiance running through my boiling blood.

The men around the table looked shocked that I would address Grey in such a way. I still never figured out  what important role in the witch and wizard society Grey played, but at the moment, I could care less.

"Do not speak to me that way," he commanded.

"Or what?" I asked. "Grey, I'm not one of the people who will bow down to you every time you enter a room. I'm also not your child. So stop living in some insane fantasy that I will help you because you're some important figure. The world isn't like that, and I hope one day you wake up and smell the coffee, because living in a delusion like that will get you no where."

My voice had risen to a shout.

Grey looked taken aback, and kept his mouth closed. It was one of the men at the table who spoke.

"Who do you think you are? Not one person, not matter how important you are would speak to the king this way."

"The king?" I asked, looking at Grey questioningly. "He just looks like a remarkably old buffoon to me."

One man stifled a snicker at that comment.

"Ryder, you need to leave," Grey said, his voice deadly.

I shook my head.

"Grey, are you sure that this is the correct one? He doesn't seem that powerful to me; just stupid."

The men around the table howled with laughter.

"I couldn't agree more. This kid is stupider than a pole," another man choked out between laughs.

I don't think I'd ever been so angry yet embarrassed before in my life. But at that moment, I knew exactly what to do with those emotions.

I tuned out the loud laughter, the insults being shouted at me. All I focused on was the anger and mortification that enveloped me.

I urged it toward the tips of my fingers, and this time I could feel the anger itching to get out of my body and do something. The feeling was bizarre.