Page 39 of The Tree of Spirits (Paragons #2)

“But the Many Realms are vast!” I gasped. “How can you know that there isn’t another one of us anywhere out there?”

“We’ve done our research,” said Kato.

“Plus, there’s the matter of the Court’s response when they learned of our existence,” Conner added.

“Why do you think they’re even bothering at all to come here for a Summit?

It’s certainly not about Gaia. The Court considers us an insignificant realm.

On a cosmic scale, we’re primitives, babies at the very beginning of our magical evolution.

And yet we already have several Polymages, something that they’ve always considered a magical impossibility.

The Court obviously wants to know how this weird, impossible phenomenon happened.

” He shrugged. “And they will probably try to reproduce it.”

“The General knows how important Polymages are to his goals. That’s why he was so displeased to lose one of them.

” Kato glanced at Conner. “It’s also why he’s been trying so hard to hunt down the Rebels.

This isn’t just about punishing them for throwing off the shackles of his authority.

The General thinks he can convince Conner to swear his allegiance to the Gaian Government once more. ”

Conner snorted. “Yeah, so that’s not going to happen.”

“If the General wants Conner back, then why doesn’t he just address the reason the Rebels left in the first place?” I asked.

“Because the General is even more stubborn than Kato,” Conner told me.

Kato readjusted his hands again. “You told her why you left?”

“Yeah, I kind of had to,” Conner replied. “And I hope you see now, after all that’s happened this past week, that I was right. Freak accidents didn’t kill Vivi’s sister and the others. Something took them, the same something that’s right now trying to escape Gaia with four Apprentices.”

“I know.” Kato breathed into his hands. “I guess I’ve known for a while. I was just…”

“Too stubborn to admit it?” A full-on grin took over Conner’s face.

“You just can’t leave it be, can you, Conner?” Kato sighed.

“Of course not. You know me.”

“Yeah.” Kato locked forearms with him. “I do.”

“It’s so much better when you two are getting along,” I said, smiling at them. “And if we work together, I’m sure we can fix everything. Stop the Templars. Save the Apprentices. Reunite the Knights.”

Conner looked at Kato. “I love how optimistic she still is. It reminds me of how we used to be.”

“Yeah.”

I jumped to my feet, taking their hands, squeezing them. “You can be that way again! You just have to want to be.”

We stood there for a while, grinning like idiots. Kato’s smile was the first to fade. He dropped his arms to his sides.

“It won’t be long before the General finds out that she’s like us,” he said.

And then the smile on Conner’s lips withered. “If he doesn’t know already. The mentors know, and you know how they love to gossip.”

“What will the General do when he finds out about me?” I dared to ask.

“I don’t know,” Kato said, but his expression was bleak. “Best case, he’ll assign a team of Watchers to watch you 24/7. If he loses another Polymage, the Court will never vote to invite Gaia to join them.”

“So I’m just a pawn in his game?” I frowned.

Kato glanced at Conner. “I told you this would all be a burden to her.”

“Yeah, well, it’s better than ignorance, right? At least now she knows what the game is.”

But did I really know?

“What’s special about us?” I asked them. “Of all the people on Gaia, why were we born with magic?”

Conner sighed. “I wish we knew, Red.”

“Did your parents have magic?”

Conner and Kato exchanged loaded looks.

“You wanted to tell her everything,” Kato reminded him.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just…well…” Conner shook his head, like he was shaking off his doubts. Then he turned to me. “Kato and I don’t know who our parents are. In fact, we don’t remember anything from before we woke up under the Spirit Tree two years ago.”

“Doesn’t the Government know who you guys are? They keep really detailed records.”

“Yes, they do,” said Kato. “But we aren’t in those records.”

“That actually happens more often than they’d like to admit,” Conner added.

“But if the Government doesn’t know who you are, how were you Chosen?” I wondered.

“There was no Choosing two years ago,” Kato reminded me.

“Things were a little more chaotic back then. The Government was still trying to figure out how this whole magic thing worked. All over the world, people just tied themselves to the Spirit Trees and prayed the spirits would blend with them. But the spirits only ever blend with about thirty sixteen-year-olds a year.”

“Wait, if you guys don’t remember anything before waking up under the Spirit Tree, how do you know that you were born with magic?” I asked.

“We’re not sure,” Conner said. “We just know somehow. Same as we know how to walk and talk and do a whole lot of other things.”

“Wow. You really don’t remember anything at all of your lives before the Blending?” I looked from him to Kato.

“Nothing.” Kato looked very vulnerable when he said it.

And I didn’t blame him. I’d thought it was tough hiding my magic all my life, but at least I knew who I was. At least I knew who my family was. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was not knowing any of that. When they’d woken up under the Spirit Tree, they must have felt so lost and lonely.

I grabbed hold of both of them and drew them into a hug. “That’s awful,” I choked up, tears pooling in my eyes. “I’m so sorry you guys had to go through that.”

“It’s ok,” said Kato. “We came to terms with it long ago.”

“Speak for yourself.” Conner nudged him away with his shoulder. “I, for one, want more hugs.” He hugged me so tightly, it squeezed all the tears out of me. Then he gave me a little twirl and set me down.

Kato caught me before I tumbled in a dizzy heap to the floor. “Good job, Captain Rogue,” he said drily. “You nearly knocked her over with your shenanigans.”

“That’s Major Rogue to you, Prince Charming. And, besides, it worked.” Conner nodded toward me.

He was right. I wasn’t crying anymore. I was laughing. Hysterically.

“Seven?” Kato moved closer to me. “Are you ok?” He was watching me like I’d lost my marbles.

“I’m fine. Still in total possession of my marbles.” I gave him a little wave.

For some weird reason, that didn’t seem to reassure him.

“Really, I’m totally ok.” I stopped laughing to prove it. “In fact, when Conner was spinning me around, my mind started to spin a little too.”

“I think you meant ‘swoon’, Red. And I tend to have that effect on girls.” He winked at me.

“Oh, please.” Kato rolled his eyes.

“Right, so my mind started spinning really fast,” I said excitedly, “so fast that I felt like it was in more than one place at once.”

“Ok, that’s making even me dizzy.” Conner made a big show of leaning his arm against Kato.

Kato peeled Conner’s arm off of his shoulder.

“And then my mind went back to how I got the Apprentices out of the conference center,” I continued.

“You teleported. Numerous times. Orion told me. He was very impressed.” Kato gave me an approving nod. “And so am I.”

“Thanks.” I blushed a little. “Ok, so a weird old lady in the Emporium gave me that spell. She tore it out of a spellbook from a secret society called the Paragons of Magic.”

Conner snorted. “The Paragons of Magic? But that’s just a fairytale.”

“That’s what my friend Rane said, but it’s not a fairy tale. It’s real.” I pulled the page out of my sweatshirt, unfolding it on the table. “See?”

Kato looked down at the page. “I don’t see anything.”

“Same,” said Conner.

“Really?” I frowned. “Well, Rane didn’t see it either. But after our discussion about Polymages just now, I wondered if maybe it was something only we could read.”

Conner’s eyes twinkled at me. “I guess you’re even weirder than we are, Red.”

Great.

“So this page contains the spell for teleportation.” Kato turned the page over in his hands, squinting at it, like he was commanding it to reveal its secrets to him.

“Yeah, the old lady said it was a free sample. She told me the spellbook contained even more powerful spells, secrets known only to the six Paragons of Magic.”

Kato set the page down on the table. “And you believe her?”

“I’m not sure. But that teleportation spell was exactly what I needed to save the other Apprentices.”

Kato set his hand on my shoulder. “I think you were exactly what was needed to save the other Apprentices.”

Conner nodded. “He’s right, Red. At its core, magic is not about the spell. It’s about the person who wields it.”

“Look, none of us has any idea where the Templars are. All we do know is they must have a plan for getting the Apprentices off this world. And we need a plan too. This is my plan.” I tapped the spell page.

“Somewhere inside the complete spellbook lies the key to finding the Templars. I’m sure of it. All we need to do is find it.”