Page 14 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

brEKKIE & BANTER

“ I hate mornings.” I clutched my strawberry-blueberry breakfast smoothie with both hands. The glass was cold, a pleasant relief from the hot summer air.

It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, and I could already tell it would be another scorcher of a day in the Fortress.

“Have you tried, I don’t know, actually sleeping?” Across the tiny table in my tiny cottage, my brother Dante let out a very loud yawn as he stretched out his arms and leaned back in his chair. He had it perfectly balanced on its two hind legs.

“I did try.” My yawn was smaller than his but decidedly more exhausted.

“But first it was the frogs croaking all night long. And then, when the frogs finally went to sleep, the birds picked up where they’d left off, inviting me to embrace the morning with them.

” I pointed to the tree outside my window, where the offending birds were still perched, happily tweeting away like they didn’t know what was good for them. “At 5 a.m.!”

“They certainly are enthusiastic creatures.” Nevada was seated next to Dante. She took a small sip from her own smoothie and watched the birds with far more delight than I could muster for the little miscreants.

Thanks to them and their co-conspirators—the frogs—I’d had a very rough night. And when I’d finally managed to fall asleep, the dreams had hit, making sure I didn’t sleep very well.

I dreamt an army of Knights grabbed me.

“You aren’t one of us!” They’d chanted that over and over again as they carried me away. “You don’t deserve to be here!”

Then they tossed me into the ocean and told me to swim back to Bayshore, my hometown on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

I’d been swimming for over a day when an ugly sea monster with way too many eyes shot toward me like a tentacle tornado and tried to turn me into a deep sea snack.

I woke up screaming and drenched in sweat.

I guess reading weird, mysterious magic books just before bed wasn’t the best idea after all.

I’d spent hours hunting down the special magic-boosting spell Mistress Meeta claimed was somewhere in the Paragons’ spellbook.

But if it was, I sure hadn’t found it. Granted, there was still so much of the book to read through.

The Paragons’ spellbook was not light reading.

All the spells were so long, so complex, so full of cryptic diagrams and long-winded descriptions. Each spell took forever to figure out.

“Today, when the Court convenes to debate the future of Gaia, it is Princess Lyssa who will speak for the vampire kingdom.”

The news on the TV played a video of the vampire princess I’d seen at the Summit yesterday. Princess Lyssa gave a graceful little wave to the camera.

Appreciation flashed in Dante’s eyes. “She’s cute.”

“Yeah, if you like the glamorous, gorgeous type,” I sighed.

The vampire princess was my age, but she looked so elegant and perfect in her pretty gown and sparkling crown.

And as for me…well, in just two short weeks, I’d already managed to get holes in all of my boring black Apprentice uniforms. In my defense, though, I’d been attacked by a lot of weirdos in those two weeks.

“It is with a heavy heart that I take on my mother’s mantle,” Princess Lyssa declared on the screen. “I will not stop until I expose the villain who murdered Queen Seriana and Prince Fenris. I will not rest until they pay for what they did to my family.”

The reporter turned to face the camera. “Princess Lyssa’s ascension comes at the expense of her older brother Prince Wyxl. No one knows for sure why Prince Wyxl wasn’t chosen, but there are whispers he was passed over for leader due to his unfortunate habit of biting people.”

“These Court people are so weird!” Dante said in delight.

The news switched to an interview with some Gaian Government official.

“Hey, who is that guy?” I asked. “I think I’ve seen him before.”

“Some senator.” Nevada frowned. “Senator Gaines, I think his name is.”

“I did not attend the Summit yesterday,” the senator said on TV.

“But I did, of course, hear about the fallout caused by General Lynch’s poor handling of the entire situation.

Prince Fenris was right about one thing: Gaia doesn’t have its house in order.

And that is entirely thanks to the Iron Wolf. ”

“Ooh, I like him!” I turned up the volume on the TV.

“I have been raising the alarm about the General for quite some time, but thus far, I’ve been summarily dismissed,” Senator Gaines continued.

“The General has simply been given far too much power. He’s gobbled up all the juiciest morsels.

He is in charge of both the Black Obelisk and the Castle.

And why? Because he has friends in high places, including the President himself!

But the Gaian Government is not a fraternity, and we do not rule by nepotism.

It is time for a change! The General is incompetent.

That should be clear to everyone now. Where were his security forces when two members of the Court were murdered right in front of everyone?

If the General had done his job, Queen Seriana and Prince Fenris would still be alive now. ”

“Much as I dislike the General, what this guy’s saying isn’t really fair,” I said. “There were vampire guards all around Queen Seriana and Prince Fenris, and they couldn’t stop what happened either.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean the vampires—and the rest of the Court, for that matter—aren’t blaming us for what happened,” Dante said.

“According to the Many Realms News Network, this is the first time in forever that Court delegates were murdered during a summit, and it happened here, on our world, while the General was in charge of security.”

Dante was right, of course, but I got the feeling that the senator’s attack was more about politics than about doing the right thing.

“The Court is watching us very closely now, analyzing every move that we make, trying to decide whether we should be invited to join their ranks,” Senator Gaines proclaimed. “We need to send a message. A strong message.”

“Such as?” the interviewer prompted him.

“At the very least, we need to replace him as the head of the Castle, effective immediately. He never should have been given that responsibility in the first place. He has no capacity to handle either magic or children. The Knights don’t trust him.

If they did, a bunch of them wouldn’t have rebelled last year.

He lost control over those Knights, and now Gaia has fewer heroes to protect us from the Curse. ”

“If the General were replaced, who do you suggest as an alternative?”

“Someone who actually knows how to talk to children. Someone who can gain their trust and respect their abilities. Certainly not someone whose picture is used as target practice in the Knights’ rec room.”

“Whoa,” I gasped. “Is that true?”

Dante shrugged. “Beats me. I’ve heard rumors, but that’s all. Apparently, the General’s had the rec room searched dozens of times, but he’s never found a shred of evidence.”

Of course he hadn’t. There were a lot of ways to use magic to hide things. And if you didn’t have any magic yourself, you’d never find them.

“Someone who is good with children? Are you recommending yourself for the job, Senator?”

Senator Gaines pretended to look surprised by the reporter’s question, but there was something in his eyes that gave him away.

“Me? I would of course be flattered to be considered to lead such a remarkable group of young people. I have two children myself, you know. Being a parent is a rewarding experience and an invaluable one too. So, yes, I’m sure I’d do a better job leading the Knights than the General has. ”

Nevada watched him. “The man has a point. Maybe if the General had kids, he wouldn’t be so bad at dealing with them.”

“I don’t know, Nevada,” replied Dante. “Just because the General is terrible with children, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any himself.”

“Oh, I really hope not!” she said, horrified. “He would make a terrible father. He’s so…unpleasant.”

“What’s that, Dante?” I asked.

He’d just pulled out a notebook and was writing in it. “My journal,” he said cryptically.

“Journal? Like a diary? Oooh, does it contain all of your deepest, darkest secrets?”

“Yeah, like what I ate for breakfast,” he laughed.

I scooted closer to him, and sure enough he’d entered his smoothie and sandwich into a chart on the page. “You have got to have the most boring diary ever.”

“It’s not a diary. It’s a journal . Jareth is having all of his Apprentices keep one.”

I flipped the page. Height, weight, distance run with time, pushups completed… The list went on and on and on. “You have to fill this out every single day?”

“Yeah. Jareth wants us to operate at peak physical efficiency.”

“Peak physical efficiency…” I tried not to laugh. “Sounds like fun.”

“It is, actually. The journal shows me how much I’m improving each day. It’s very motivating.”

I poked my cold smoothie with my straw. “Maybe I should start a journal too.”

Of course, the only thing I’d be able to write in that journal was a list of my catastrophes. And who would want to read that? I sure didn’t need the reminder.

“What else is Jareth having you do?” I asked Dante.

“What do you mean?”

“Like what exercises is he giving you to help you connect with your magic?”

If I could collect lots of tips from enough Knights, maybe I’d finally get a handle on my magic. Eris had given my team a few exercises, but most of them involved meditating, which felt an awful lot like sitting still and doing nothing.

“Doing physical exercises does help you connect with your magic,” Dante said.

“Only if you’re a Metamorph.”

“Everyone on Team Victory is hoping to be a Metamorph.”

Nevada snorted. “I’m not surprised.”

Dante looked at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she said, smiling. “It’s just that your teammates kind of seem like the type of people who really enjoy hitting things.”