Page 1 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

THE SNOWS OF SUMMER

A flurry of snowflakes fell on summer. Swirls of steam wafted up from the grassy field—at the same time sun-scorched and frost-kissed—but the air was dark and cold.

So very cold. My breath froze on my lips, and I was shaking so hard that my teeth rattled, despite all the layers of clothing I was wearing.

Across the small patch of grass, the white Knight was almost invisible.

Only his black hair stood out against the snowy forest backdrop.

Kato had foregone his usual white armor in lieu of white sports clothes.

His shirt and leggings were paper-thin, but the frigid air didn’t appear to bother him at all.

He observed me closely. All the while, I shivered, beat my hands together, and hopped up and down to stay warm.

His lips curled decidedly downward, like he disapproved of the very idea that anyone could feel cold in sub-zero temperatures. “I expect you will learn to handle the cold soon enough. And the heat. And rain. And storms.”

I cringed just imagining what Kato planned to put me through today. The sun hadn’t even risen, and I was starting to wish I hadn’t risen this morning either.

“Mastery of the elements is Nymph magic, Savannah. But this morning, we’re focusing on something else entirely: agility, a very useful Metamorph spell.”

“Particularly for you.” Conner appeared out of nowhere, as he often did.

I gasped, jumping in alarm. My eyes had been so focused on Kato that I’d totally forgotten to open up my other senses to the world around me.

If I had, I’d have sensed Conner, invisibility spell or not.

I mean, I’d known he was somewhere around here.

After all, he’d been the one to cast a winter spell on this summer field just five minutes ago.

“You do get yourself into a lot of trouble, Red.” Conner chuckled. Frost crunched beneath his shoes as he walked across the grass, coming to a stop beside Kato. “Being able to run fast will help you get out of it.”

He wasn’t wrong. I did have a talent for getting myself into trouble, the latest incident being a three-way firefight between us, an anti-magic hate group, and a trio of supernatural kidnappers who called themselves Templars.

That battle had happened only yesterday, but already everyone in all the Many Realms knew about it—and they knew about me, the Apprentice Knight who’d somehow stumbled into the middle of it all.

Believe it or not, being infamous wasn’t as much fun as it sounded.

“Thanks for the helpful commentary.” I shot Conner a sarcastic smile.

He smirked as he ran a hand through his blond hair. “Don’t worry. I have plenty more where that came from.”

“No thank you,” Kato told him before I could. “You’re not here to distract her from her training.”

Conner pretended to look disappointed. “I’m not? Too bad. I can be very distracting.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at me.

I snorted, Conner chuckled, and Kato expelled a long-suffering sigh.

Then he slid Conner a frosty, sidelong glare. “I expected this sort of behavior from him , Seven, but I thought you knew better. I thought you realized how important what we’re doing here is.”

“I do. And I’m sorry. I’ll try harder.” I rolled back my shoulders, my fists clenched with determination.

Kato turned his gaze on Conner.

Conner laughed. “If you’re waiting for me to promise to be serious, Kato, well, that’s just not going to happen. I never take anything seriously.”

“For once, we agree on something,” Kato replied, his mouth tight. “But, actually, I was about to ask you to flex your magical muscles instead of your mouth.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I excel at flexing my magical muscles.”

Kato flicked Conner’s flexed biceps with his finger, which elicited a cry of protest from his best friend.

“Now, if you will, Captain Rogue, prepare the first challenge.” Kato’s dark brows lifted. “Unless that’s too hard for you.”

“Of course it’s not.”

Whistling a quick staccato note, Conner positioned both hands in front of his chest. Glittering flakes of snow rose from the ground, spiraling inward, solidifying to form a snowball in his open palms.

I gasped. “Cool.”

The spell was so elegant, so beautiful. Conner formed snowballs like an artist sculpting his grand masterpiece.

“Now defend yourself, Seven. Evade the snowball.” Kato flicked his wrist. The snowball shot toward me.

And smashed into my face.

It had all happened so fast, I hadn’t even realized what was going on until it was already too late.

“Perhaps you should spend less time mesmerized by the pretty, sparkly snowballs and more time evading them,” Kato said coolly as I wiped the snow off my face.

I scowled at him.

“Frowns aren’t weapons. Defend yourself!”

Conner formed another snowball, and once again Kato used telekinesis to shoot it at me.

This time, I’d anticipated what he was about to do—and I was still too slow.

The snowball smashed into my chest so hard that it nearly knocked the wind out of me. I doubled over, and another snowball hit me in the head.

A violent sneeze exploded out of me. I was so angry, I was surprised fire wasn’t smoking out of my ears too.

“Again!” Kato’s merciless voice called out through all the snow and snot on my face.

I wiped them away with the backside of my gloved hand, just in time to see a fleet of snowballs zooming toward me. I tried to evade them, but they were coming in too fast. And I was way too slow. I fell to my knees under the heavy bombardment.

Kato offered me his hand, which I took. He pulled me to my feet, then looked at me and sighed. “If you can’t even defend yourself against a few snowballs, you will never be a great and powerful Knight.”

“Thanks for the cheerful pep talk.”

I certainly didn’t feel very great or powerful right now. In fact, I couldn’t feel my magic at all. It was all tied up, buried deep inside of me. I felt so uselessly human.

The next snowball bombardment began. Each ball Kato released hit its mark. When I opened my mouth to tell him to stop this useless exercise, a snowball smashed into my teeth. I spat out snow, growling.

“Don’t talk during battle. It divides your attention.” Kato said it like it was the most useful piece of advice ever.

Ok, so maybe it was useful advice, but I was still angry.

“Focus, Seven, or this will never work.”

“I am trying,” I muttered through the snow still swooshing around inside my mouth.

“Try harder. Remember what we talked about before training. What are the key points to controlling your magic?”

“Maintain steady breathing. Check my emotions at the door. Keep my mind focused on the task at hand.”

Kato nodded in approval as I rattled off the pre-battle checklist. Then he rewarded me for my excellent memory by unleashing the next volley of snowballs. And this time, the snow-bombing knocked me down.

I staggered sloppily to my feet, nearly falling back down again.

I brushed off my jacket and pants. By this point, there must have been more snow on me than on the ground.

Icy water trickled down the back of my shirt.

I planted my shaking feet hard on the ground, pressed my lips together, and tried really hard not to squeal—or fall over.

Frowning, Conner watched me struggle to stay standing. “I don’t think your method is working, Kato.”

“It will work if she follows the procedure.”

“You’ve got her magic so tied up in bullet points and breathing exercises that it’s strangling her.”

“And what would you suggest? Games and laughter?” Kato favored him with a single, slow eyebrow lift.

Sunshine sparkled in Conner’s eyes. “What a fantastic idea! Come on over here, Red.” He waved at me.

I hesitated.

“Don’t worry. I promise it’s not a trick.” Conner’s face was as relaxed as Kato’s was serious. “This will be fun .”

Kato folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think?—”

“Good. No more thinking for you,” Conner told him breezily, then shifted his gaze to me. “Magic isn’t about outlines and charts and checklists, Red. It’s not about thinking at all. It’s about feeling .”

Kato made a dissenting noise deep in his throat.

Conner ignored him. “So here’s what we’re going to do, Red.

We’re going to turn this training session into a fun game.

” He whistled, longer and deeper this time.

Three mounds of snow rose from the ground.

“This is a three-way battle, and those are our bases.” Another short whistle.

A pile of snowballs formed behind each of the three forts.

“And that’s our ammunition. Use your snowballs to attack your opponents, and use your agility to defend yourself against your opponents. Got it?”

I nodded.

“Then let’s get this party started!”

“I can’t believe a snowball fight is your brilliant idea of how to train an Apprentice,” Kato grumbled as we all headed to our respective forts.

Conner shot him a crooked smile. “You’re only bitter because you know you’re going to lose.”

“That’ll be the day.” Kato ground his teeth together like he was chewing on gravel.

Conner snickered, then swung around to the backside of his fort. “Everyone ready?”

I gave him a thumbs up. And Kato gave him an eye-roll. But we all grabbed a snowball in each hand.

“Go!” Conner hurled a snowball at Kato.

Kato ducked to the side, simultaneously catapulting a snowball at me. This time, I was fast enough. That and the fort took the hit for me. I peeked over the top just long enough to launch another snowball at Kato. Of course he evaded it. He was too quick.

“Ha! You missed!” Kato called across the snowy battlefield. He really seemed to be getting into this.

I threw another snowball. It swished past him.

“When this is over, we really need to work on your aim?—”

Kato’s rebuke was cut short when my snowball collided with the tree branch looming over him, causing it to shed its heavy, snowy load. He burst out of the snow pile that had buried him, spitting and spluttering.

“Don’t talk during battle, Kato. It divides your attention,” I told him with a sly smile.

“Good one, Red!” Conner howled with laughter.

That laughter turned into coughing when my snowball slammed into his face.

Kato snickered.

With a dark smile, Conner lifted his hands in the air, using his magic to send a few dozen snowballs at Kato.

Kato did the same, and the two of them went to war, me and my training completely forgotten.

They continued fighting long after they’d run out of snowballs.

They drew runes and threw potions. They cast illusions and summoned forcefields.

They even cast lightning and dropped huge tree branches out of the sky.

It was a pretty spectacular display of magic, and I would have been impressed—if they weren’t trying their best to hurt each other.

“Stop!” I shouted at them.

They didn’t listen to me. I even tried hitting two sticks together—loudly and repeatedly, making a lot of noise—but I wasn’t sure they could even hear it. So much for focusing your mind and leaving your emotions at the door. Neither of them was breathing evenly either.

“You guys really need to cool off,” I muttered, focusing on the snowy forest behind them.

I mimicked the low, long whistling noise Conner had made earlier to create the big forts. If I could grab control over all the snow in the forest, I could build a high wall between the boys.

That was the plan anyway. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan. Instead of a wall, I created an avalanche that poured across the field like an angry river, burying all three of us.