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

Dante took a moment to stick his tongue out at me before glancing back at Mom. “I didn’t ask you for help, Mom, because I knew you wouldn’t let me use the battery.”

“He’s right,” I told Mom. “He only wanted the battery so he could pull a prank on a bunch of our classmates.”

“And you and Nevada would have used it to give yourselves enough light to try out new hairstyles.”

“We have a lot more hair than you, Dante. We can’t just splash a bunch of water on our head and be done. Real styling takes time and, yes, light.”

He rolled his eyes. “Girls.”

“What sort of prank were you planning, Dante?” Mom questioned him. She’d never been one to get pulled off track.

“I was going to hook up the battery to the garage doors and make them continuously open and close. With the power out, the other kids would think the garage was haunted by ghosts,” Dante declared without a single shred of embarrassment.

“And it would have worked too if you hadn’t requisitioned the battery for your own purposes. ”

“ Requisitioned ? Nice word!” I told him.

“Thanks! I’ve been building up my vocabulary so I can impress the Knights.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But everyone respects a man with a big vocabulary.”

“I think you’re confusing ‘big vocabulary’ with ‘big mouth’.” I smirked at him. “And ‘man’ with ‘boy’.”

“And you’re confusing smart with smart-a?—”

“Ok, that’s enough,” Mom cut him off.

He folded his hands together and shot our mother a look of pure innocence.

“Yes, I did requisition the battery,” she said. “To hook it up to the refrigerator so our food didn’t spoil. That is way more important than silly pranks.” Her gaze slid to me. “Or new hairstyles.”

“Yeah,” Dante and I agreed, our chests rumbling with laughter.

“Yo, Winters! Stop dawdling! We’re moving out!” my brother’s teammate Rhett called out.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Dante said, bowing to us as he backed up. “I will see you ladies later.”

Mom wrapped her arms around me and Dante, squeezing us to her. “Love you both.”

“Love you, Mom,” we told her.

Mom stepped back, but she hit us with a solid stare before she released our hands. “Aren’t you two going to tell each other that you love each other?”

“Na, because that wouldn’t be true.” Dante winked at me.

“And you taught us to always tell the truth,” I added, returning the wink.

“See you around, Sav.” Dante gave me a high-five, then jogged off to join his team.

“Well, then.” Mom wiped her wet eyes. “I should get moving too. I have to get these supplies back to the lab.” She patted her satchel.

Nodding, I headed toward the Distributor’s shop. But I spun back around just before I reached it. I ran back to Mom and wrapped my arms around her.

“Everything is going to be all right,” I told her. “You’ll see. Soon, Dante and I will be Knights. And we’re going to make this world a better place. For all of us.”

“I believe in you, Savannah,” Mom told me, then continued on her way.

I stood there for a few minutes, alone in the doorway of the Distributor’s shop, watching, waiting. All the while, the sky grew darker and darker.

I heard thunder…and lots of it. Any moment now, the sky was going to split open and drown the city in a deluge of rain.

Chanting hummed in the air. And the muffled rumble of lots and lots of footsteps, growing ever louder. A parade of protesters was marching down the street, carrying large, colorful signs.

End the tyranny!

Bring back democracy!

Expel the Government!

The anti-Government protesters certainly carried bold, defiant signs, but they were too afraid to show their faces. Every one of them wore a mask.

“Halt!” shouted a Watcher, one of the General’s soldiers. The speakers in his big, black helmet really amplified the volume of his voice.

There were more of them. Eight Watchers, armed and ready. They shoved their way through the parade, grabbing for the protestors’ masks, attempting to unveil them.

“The valiant do not prey on the vulnerable!” Someone in black armor jumped down from a rooftop, landing in a nimble crouch.

“The Rebels,” I muttered as two more landed beside the first.

The Watchers surged toward them. One of the Rebels let out a magic war cry, and the ground rumbled in response, knocking the Watchers off their feet.

The protestors cheered.

“Conner implied that the Rebels might know something about the recent attacks on Apprentices,” I said to myself as I watched Rebels and Watchers clash. “I need to talk to them. I need to learn what they know.”

But Conner had also told me to stay far away from the Rebels. He’d said they were dangerous.

And, watching them now, I couldn’t argue with that. It was no wonder, given that they were former Knights.

They were true magic powerhouses. It took the three Rebels under half a minute to knock out the eight Watchers—and only a few seconds more to tangle them up in black ribbons and tie them to the fence that separated the Magic Emporium from the Black Obelisk.

Then they topped it all off with a big black bow. That seemed to be their signature move.

And then they were gone. Just gone. Before I could follow them.

“Well, so much for that plan,” I muttered. “I wonder where they?—”

Loud barking cut me off. A white husky was running down the street. She came to a stop right in front of me.

“Wolf?” I dropped to my knees and scratched her behind the ears.

She barked in greeting, but it wasn’t a happy bark. It was a sad cry, pulsing with fear and desperation.

“What are you doing here alone?” I asked her. “Where’s Marlow?”

Wolf let out an agonizing yelp. Dread sank like a stone in my stomach.

“Did something happen to him?”

Something was wrong. I could feel it. Marlow was in trouble.