Page 16 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

INVISIBILITY TAG

E ris and Orion had set up an obstacle course on the Hex, the grassy field between the six interconnected castles that made up ‘the Castle’, headquarters of the Knights of Gaia.

My two teammates were already there, and so was the other team.

For today’s training, the mentors had partnered us with Orion’s team.

Unfortunately, that included Georgia James, one of the kids from Victory.

Georgia didn’t talk as much as her best friend Zoe—or at all really—but she was a master of the condescending sneer.

“Gather round, Apprentices! Let’s get started!” Eris waved her hands, drawing us toward the large burnt tree stump she stood on with Orion.

Today, the Nymph wore her strawberry-blonde hair braided and pinned to her head, milkmaid style. She’d traded in her armor for a tunic and tights—both in her signature green, of course. Over the tunic, she wore a thick leather belt. More than a few throwing knives were attached to it.

As for Orion, he’d decided to stick with his armor. As blue as the ocean, glittering in the hot summer sun, it was magnificent. Just not as magnificent as the sparkling necklace around Orion’s neck. A small glass orb hung on a long gold chain, like a captured star trapped in time.

Orion addressed the Apprentices. “Today’s training will determine if any of you possess the talent for Dreamweaver magic. To be a Dreamweaver—to feel the magic in your fingertips, to weave the strands together—that requires patience and a subtlety which most magicians, unfortunately, lack.”

Georgia flashed me a wide grin. I responded with one of my own.

She was one to judge. The girl was as subtle as a big, old battle axe—with all the rusted bits and chipped edges.

I could picture her as one of those berserkers from the days of old, hacking her way across the battlefield with demented glee.

A Dreamweaver, she was not. A nightmare perhaps, but no Dreamweaver.

“We’ll start out with a fun little game I like to call invisibility tag . I will make myself invisible, and you all have to find me. The first team to do so wins the game. What do you say, Eris?” Orion glanced at her. “Care to pit your Apprentices against mine?”

Her smile was confident and immediate. “Absolutely.”

“We’re finally going to use real magic!” Dutch practically sang the words as he bounced back and forth between his feet, warming up his muscles.

Bronte bent down and touched her toes without even bending her knees. Boy, she was flexible.

Both of my teammates were highly competitive. They got so caught up in the euphoria of the game that sometimes they forgot to stop and do the math.

So I did it for them. “There are five of them, and only three of us.”

Bronte started jogging in place, her knees high in the air. Her breaths were quick but controlled. “What’s your point, Savannah?”

“That there are five of them, and only three of us. Those are hardly what I’d call fair odds.”

“In battle, the odds are rarely in your favor.”

If that was Orion’s idea of a pep talk, he really needed to work on his motivational speaking skills.

Though, somehow, I didn’t think he was trying to reassure me.

The Dreamweaver Knight wasn’t mean, but he wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine either.

If I had to describe him, I’d call him realistic or pragmatic , perhaps with a dash of mysterious .

He was a Dreamweaver, after all. They were all a little dark and mysterious.

Eris seemed to like that about him, even though she was the exact opposite of dark and mysterious . In fact, I was definitely noticing some sparks flying between her and Orion. I guess what people said was true: opposites attract.

A shrill whistle cut across the Hex. Everyone stopped warming up and looked at Orion.

“The game begins…now!”

Orion blinked out of sight. The Apprentices scrambled to find him. Most of them ran straight for where we’d seen him last, full speed, but of course he wasn’t there anymore.

“Move it, little girl!” One of the Apprentices ran past me, shoving me roughly out of the way.

I hit the ground, spitting out grass. Yuck.

I rose, scanning the Hex for the drive-by shover.

Briefly, I considered unleashing an avalanche on him, but I didn’t think I’d get any bonus points for that.

And I wasn’t sure I could cast the spell either.

The last time I’d done it, it had been a total accident.

I chuckled in appreciation when Dutch tackled him to the ground. Bronte was facing Georgia, who’d grabbed a stick and was trying to whack Bronte with it. Meanwhile, Dutch was squaring up against two other Apprentices. Everyone had totally forgotten what we were supposed to be doing.

There was a gasp, then an Apprentice collapsed onto the grass, unconscious. No one even noticed. Another Apprentice fell. Then another. And another.

The knockouts must have been Orion’s idea of a wakeup call. It was working. The Apprentices had stopped fighting and were now searching for the invisible menace.

Dutch stopped moving, closed his eyes, and listened for footsteps. It wasn’t a bad idea, but it had made him a stationary target. Dutch grunted, like someone had punched him in the stomach, then he doubled over.

Orion’s voice echoed from all directions. “Stop messing around and find me, Apprentices!”

I stretched out my arms, wiggling my fingertips.

One of them brushed against something sticky, like honey.

I poked around until I found the honeypot—or rather, the edge of another dimension.

I peeled back the thick, heavy layer of…

whatever it was. I guess it was the fabric between dimensions.

Or big, fat folders in an inter-dimensional filing cabinet.

I kept searching, strumming my fingers across the dimensional divide. I’d done this once before with Nixi the ghost, and it had felt kind of similar.

Things were a little rougher this time, a little edgier and harder and louder. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where Orion was hiding, but I had a general idea of the direction.

“Is that the best you can do?”

Orion’s voice sounded closer. And it echoed less. I had to be getting close.

“You will never be Knights.”

I pulled back another layer, and Orion’s voice completely disappeared. I heard only crickets—literally. I couldn’t see the crickets, but I could hear them all around me.

The mist cleared. I saw I was standing in an open field. The wild grass, green tinged with red, was as tall as my knees and as thick as my fingers. The blades swayed in the breeze. I laughed when they tickled my bare legs.

“Red.”

I turned at the sound of Conner’s voice. Though he stood at least twenty meters away, far out of reach, his words sounded like they’d come from right beside me.

“Conner? You’re here?”

“I’m here.”

Conner moved through the sea of grass toward me, his body lit up in a halo of moonlight. He wore a dark bodysuit, cut off at the arms. His bow was strapped to his back.

“Nice cape.” I smirked at him.

His chuckle was soft, understated, and very much amused. “Nice outfit.”

“It’s just my Apprentice uniform.”

“It’s dirty.”

I brushed the grass off my black tank top and shorts. And socks. And shoes. And hair. Geez, it really had gotten everywhere, hadn’t it?

“A couple of the other Apprentices are taking our training session way too seriously,” I said. “They pushed me down.”

“I hope you pushed back.”

I laughed. “No. That’s so not me.”

“Yes, revenge is sweeter when it comes unexpected and unannounced. So, what will it be, Red? Chili pepper on the toothbrush? Salt in the sugar shaker? A rogue red sock in their white laundry?” He gave his eyebrows a mischievous wiggle.

I tried not to laugh. I really did. But it was hopeless.

“I’d never do any of those things!”

“Oh, really? How terribly disappointing.” Conner pretended to sigh, but he was grinning far too much to pull that off.

“Of course not. You’re the only rogue here, Captain Rogue.”

“Careful, Red. Only Kato gets to call me that. And afterwards, I get to enact my revenge.” He let out a melodramatic, maniacal laugh.

I laughed too. “You’re so silly, Conner.”

“Obviously,” he purred. “So what brings you to my doorstep, Red? Or should I say dimension ?”

“Today we’re training Dreamweaver magic.”

“And then you decided to skip those boring lessons, so you could spend some time with me instead? Fantastic! I’m clearly having a good influence on you.”

“I didn’t skip out of training,” I told him. “I was looking for Orion.”

“Oh? Did he get lost again?” Conner sounded amused.

“No, actually. I got lost. I was flipping through the dimensions, and I must have taken a wrong turn.”

“And found me! How fortuitous!”

“Uh, right. So do you think you could point me in the direction of Gaia?”

“I can do one better. I can escort you back there myself. We wouldn’t want you to take another wrong turn and end up in a dragon’s den, now would we?

Of course, I don’t know exactly how you got here, so we’ll have to take my way back.

Just a quick snap back to our dimension, and then a short stroll to the Spirit Tree?—”

“No!”

Conner blinked at me in surprise. He stopped smiling. “Is something wrong, Red?”

“Yes. Conner, listen to me. You can’t use the Spirit Trees to get back to Gaia. The General has Watchers guarding all the trees. The moment you come through the tree, they’ve been ordered to arrest you.”

“That’s…unfortunate. But not to worry. I’ll just turn myself invisible before I go through the Spirit Tree. The Watchers can’t catch someone they can’t see!”

“That’s not going to work anymore, Conner. The General’s on to you. He had the Alchemists make the Watchers some kind of anti-invisibility tech.”

His expression soured. “Well, isn’t that fantastic? But no worries. I’ll think of something. I always do.”

Conner exuded confidence like a kitten exuded cuteness. Even so, I couldn’t help but worry about him.