Page 17 of The Tree of Spirits (Paragons #2)

INTELLI-MOVE

I stared at the engraved panel of smooth wood that hung in the shop window, which read: Intelli-move: The intelligent way to move!

Ok, maybe the sign was classy, but the tagline was really cheesy.

The waiting room was classy too, a perfect blend of gorgeous hardwood floors and peaceful pastoral paintings on the walls.

And the furniture didn’t look like it had spent ten years lying in some abandoned corner of the Wilderness before the Scavengers had found it and hauled it back to town.

The cream-white sofa was spotless and the plump seat cushions comfortable—way more comfortable than my bed.

Like Raytan’s Removals, Intelli-move was a family business. And its leading lady was Isidora, a pretty Elf with a smart bun and a long, swanlike neck.

“So, Miss Winters.” Isidora set down a cup of tea on the table in front of me. She had the body and grace of a ballerina. “What can I do for the Castle?”

I braced my feet against the floor, sitting up taller. The only problem with the luxurious sofa was it was really slippery. “Actually, I’m not here on official Castle business.”

“Oh?” Isidora took a dainty sip from her own teacup. The flowers painted on the porcelain perfectly matched the dress she was wearing. “Then why are you here?”

“It’s a long story. But suffice it to say, I’m looking into a robbery at Raytan’s Removals.” I paused, watching her for her reaction. She gave none. “And an explosion that destroyed the contents of one of their shipments. It wounded four of their employees.”

“The removal business is a dangerous one.”

That sounded like a threat. Maybe Xael was right about them. Maybe they were trying to take out a rival business.

“You and Raytan are competitors,” I said.

Isidora made a derisive noise. “We are hardly on the same level.”

“Care to clarify?”

She primly folded her hands together on her lap.

“We operate completely differently. The Metamorphs brute-force their way through their removals. Whereas we employ both finesse and skill. A little telekinesis can go a long way, Miss Winters. Our approach is far safer than the Metamorphs’.

And there’s a much lower rate of material damage. ”

I took a sip of my tea. It tasted like strawberries with a splash of mint. “And yet you’ve lost a lot of business to Raytan.”

Isidora crinkled her pretty little nose.

“Yes,” she admitted. “Our bookings are down since Raytan set up shop in the Emporium last year. People go to Raytan’s Removals because his employees look big and strong.

And prospective clients think that’s the profile of a good removals company. A misconception, of course.”

“I see there’s no love lost between you and the Metamorphs.”

Isidora set down her teacup a little harder than she’d likely intended.

It clinked loudly against the saucer. “I wouldn’t sabotage Raytan, if that’s what you’re implying.

We are not savages, unlike the Metamorphs.

We don’t need to stoop to such crude, despicable methods.

We’re going to beat them because we are better, not because we cheated. ”

I rose to my feet. “Thank you for seeing me. I think I should go now.”

“Yes,” she said stiffly, rising. “I really think you should.”

When I stepped out of the building, Rane was waiting for me.

“Raytan said you were here. How’s it going?”

I didn’t have a good answer to that, so all I said was, “Let’s walk.”

I needed to think. I needed to move . But after a few blocks of moving and thinking, I still had no idea what to make of this messy situation. Silent brooding hadn’t helped; maybe talking about it would.

“This whole thing feels fishy,” I said. “First, Raytan’s trucks are stolen. And then, when he tracks one of them down, someone’s unloaded all the cargo and just left it there. And they left the trucks there too. I mean, what kind of thief leaves the treasure behind?”

“A stupid one?” Rane suggested.

“And then the cargo crates all exploded, along with all the stuff in them.”

“That explains the singe marks on your shirt,” Rane commented.

I looked down. “What? Where?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told me. “You can hardly notice them.”

I knew she was lying to make me feel better, but my mind was too ensnared in this mystery to care.

“So there were magical explosives hidden inside the supply crates.” I peeked into a magic shop, then, seeing it was closed, continued on.

“But a lot of care was taken so that no one was seriously wounded or killed in the explosion. That doesn’t sound like something a mortal enemy would do.

And as for the Elves being behind it…” I shook my head.

“Ok, Isidora was kind of condescending toward the Metamorphs, but I don’t think she’d resort to hiding bombs in their crates.

She’s way too proud to do something so underhanded. ”

Rane stopped walking. “Wait, what? Raytan thinks Isidora is behind all this?”

I shrugged. “Some of his guys do, anyway.”

“No way.” She shook her head. “All right, so Elves can be pretty arrogant. Most of the races just let that wash right over them because, well, the Many Realms is a tightly-interconnected place, and we all have to kind of get along and work together. But not the Metamorphs. Oh, no, they always have to take everything personally.”

“What about this war between Metamorphs and Elves?” I asked her. “That sounds like more than just a personal matter.”

“In truth, that war is only between one Metamorph clan and one Elf clan. It’s totally stupid, and the Court has been trying to get them to sort things out for months, but people can be really stubborn, so, yeah, that’s not happening anytime soon.

Of course, in the grand scheme of the Many Realms, their tiny war affects like hardly any people. ”

“So wars aren’t common in the Many Realms?”

“Not really.” She flicked one of her tiny ponytails over her shoulder. “The six races pretty much just mostly hate each other in silence from a comfortable distance.”

“So supernaturals aren’t allowed to make friends with people from other races?”

She chewed on her lip. “Sups don’t typically do that, though I don’t think any race explicitly forbids it. Of course marriages across magical races are a big no-no.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize supernaturals were such a xenophobic bunch. They’re always preaching about the unity of the Many Realms.”

Rane snorted. “Yeah, so that’s a big load of crap.”

“So what you’re saying is the six races don’t actually get along all that well?”

“Not as well as we should,” said Rane. “People tend to concentrate on how different they are from one another instead of focusing on all the things we share. There are the big lines they draw between the different races. And then there are the smaller—but no less noticeable—lines they draw between different branches of the same race. It’s so stupid. ”

“You’re thinking about you and Storm,” I guessed.

“Yeah, my parents didn’t like him because he’s the wrong kind of Nymph.

I mean, seriously, what is up with that?

Thankfully, they eventually got over that, mostly thanks to you for helping them see him as the good person he is, not as some deviant kind of Nymph.

” She shot me an appreciative smile. “But there is still a lot of prejudice out there, as you’ve seen today with the Metamorphs and Elves. ”

And here we were, back at the Metamorphs and the Elves.

“There is definitely something really weird going on here.” I took a deep breath, squaring my shoulders. “I don’t know what it is, but I am going to find out.”

“Hopefully, you can do that before my family gets evicted.”

“We are going to fix this, Rane. I promise,” I assured her. My brain was churning so fast, I was starting to get dizzy. “But to do it, we’re going to need a little help.” And just like that, an idea took root in my mind. “Luckily, I know just the person to help us out.”