Page 45 of The Tree of Spirits (Paragons #2)

UNLEASHED

“ B ut how did you know we were here?” I asked Elandra. My mind was processing everything so fast, I was starting to get dizzy again.

“Those walkie-talkies I made for your mother do more than just let people talk. They also allow me to listen. And I was listening very carefully when you and your two Knight friends figured out where the Templars would be.”

My stomach throbbed, like someone had punched me really hard right there. I never should have trusted Elandra.

“Now step aside, Savannah,” she said sharply. “While we deal with these supernatural invaders from the Many Realms.”

I didn’t move aside. I couldn’t. Just as I couldn’t believe Kylie’s mom—and my mom’s friend—was leading a group of anti-magic zealots.

“You released the Cursed Ones on the Chosen. Like my brother. And my friend Nevada.” My teeth were clenched and my fists too. “You could have gotten them cursed!”

“It was a necessary step toward ending all magic on Earth.” At her command, several Techno Knights rushed the Templars. A new battle had begun.

“A necessary step?” I snapped. “You’re talking about cursing people. About robbing them of their humanity!”

“I didn’t start this, Savannah. I didn’t bring magic to this world. I’m just trying to eradicate it.”

“By cursing more people? That doesn’t make any sense!”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“Yeah, I have trouble understanding insane people.”

“The Curse isn’t a person. It doesn’t grow an ego when it’s given magic. Not like them.” She shot the Knights and Templars a dirty look. “You have to understand, Savannah, that I hate the Curse. I hate it with every part of me. I lost my husband to it.”

“So you decided to unleash the Cursed Ones on defenseless people? So that more people are infected? So that more people lose the ones they love? That is crazy !”

“The Curse is a disease,” Elandra said with pinched cheeks. “It can be contained, even controlled. People with magical powers cannot.”

“And that’s why you think it was necessary to unleash the Cursed Ones on the Apprentices at the Garden?”

“The Apprentices cannot be allowed to become Knights. It only continues the cycle of magic. Magic is destroying our world, one spell at a time.”

I wondered if she appreciated the irony of her words, standing here as her magic-mimicking Techno Knights battled the magic-wielding Templars.

This battle had been going on for only a few seconds, and already there was hardly anything left of the picnic area.

Lightning and benches and people were flying in every direction.

“Apprentices are not monsters. They are people. You attacked innocent people,” I told Elandra. “Including your own daughter.”

“Kylie was never in any real danger.” She flicked her wrist casually. “The necklace I gave her repels the Cursed Ones. It keeps them away from her.”

I remembered that necklace. Ms. Pirana had scolded Kylie for fiddling with it.

“I made sure Kylie would be safe during the Garden attack,” Elandra told me proudly.

“I would never hurt…” Her voice drifted off as her gaze fell upon Kylie, lying motionless on the ground under the Spirit Tree.

She pushed past me, running to her daughter, clutching her in her arms. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

She threw back her head and screamed at the sky.

Then Elandra jumped to her feet, wiping her eyes roughly with the sleeve of her prickly brown robe.

“See what I mean?” she snarled at me. “Magic hurts everyone in our world. It corrupts everything in our world.” Shaking with rage, she pointed at the Templars.

“Those fiends stole my inventions, armor designed to fight magic. They corrupted my designs. They used them to enhance their armor, amplify their vile magic, and spread death and destruction. Magic killed my daughter. Just as magic took my husband from me.”

“Magic didn’t kill Kylie. They did,” I said as the Templars set off a fiery explosion. “Magic is just a tool, like your suits. It can be used for good or for evil. It all depends on who wields it.”

“She isn’t wrong about that,” the Polymage Templar said, flicking Elandra aside with a potent spell. Then the Templar’s hands closed around my arms, hefting me off the ground. “You’re an Apprentice,” she said to me.

The Spirit Tree was lit up again. Magic shot up the trunk, drenching the branches in a deep, dark indigo blue.

“You will come with me,” said the Polymage Templar. Her voice was almost mechanical. “All Apprentices need to come with me.”

“No.”

“You don’t have a choice,” she told me. “You need to become something else. We all need to become something else.”

“Become what?” I kicked my legs, trying to free myself, but her hold was rock-solid.

“The Many Realms Court is old and broken. A new order is coming.”

“What order? Whose order?” I tried to pry her fingers off my throat, but that didn’t work any better than all the kicking.

“All Apprentices need to come with me,” she said again, her hold on me tightening. “That’s why we’re here.”

“You need the Apprentices for something? What?”

Dark eyes peered at me through her face wrap. “A new order is coming.”

That wasn’t helpful.

I pushed against her, moving my hands as much as I could, swiping them through the air. She let out a surprised gasp—and so did I—when my body phased right through her fingers, escaping her grasp. The moment my feet hit the ground, I dropped and rolled away from her.

Her gaze cut away from me, to the two Knights rushing toward me. With one hand, she snatched Kylie’s body off the ground. With the other, she smashed a smoke bomb at her feet. When the smoke cleared, she was gone.

“Seven!” Kato called out to me.

“Over here,” I said, rising. “She must have escaped through the tree. We have to follow her!” I stopped dead in my tracks when the blue magic lighting up the Spirit Tree fizzled out. “She took Kylie’s body. Why take her body?”

“I don’t know,” replied Kato.

I looked around. “Where are the other two Templars?”

“They escaped into the Park.”

“We need to go after that Polymage Templar.” I turned away from the tree, my gaze shifting between him and Conner. “Did either of you see the symbol she drew? Do you know where she’s going?”

“No.” Conner grabbed my face, looking me over.

I batted his hands away. “There must be some way to figure out where she took Kylie.”

“There isn’t,” Kato said as Conner grabbed me again.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, trying to shrug him off.

“You hit your head pretty hard, Red. I need to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

“I’m fine. We don’t have time for this! We need to go through the Spirit Tree. We need to search the Many Realms and bring Kylie back! And we need to find Asher too!”

“You won’t be going anywhere,” Elandra proclaimed.

She stood beside the Spirit Tree, her hand clutching the handle of a very large bottle. Her four Techno Knights stood guard in front of her. They lifted their swords in unison, and a fire cage engulfed me, Kato, and Conner. A fiery roof crackled overhead. We were trapped.

It burned so hot, steam rose from the grass, coalescing into an insidious fog that glided across the ground, melting into the flames.

“My daughter is dead, and very soon so shall all of you. Your days of galavanting across the Many Realms are over.” Elandra’s voice pierced the crackling flames. “Because I’m going to destroy the Spirit Trees. Every single one of them in all the Many Realms.”