Page 2 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

ACCIDENTAL AVALANCHE

K ato and Conner had us out of the snowy sea in half the time it had taken me to cast the accidental avalanche spell. If only I had such a good handle on my magic.

“Nice going, Captain Rogue,” Kato told Conner as we cut through the woods, heading toward the big gates that surrounded the Castle’s expansive grounds.

Sunrise wasn’t far off, and we had to get Conner out of here before the grounds filled up with Knights. He was still a fugitive, after all, and I didn’t think the General would let him off the hook just because he’d helped us save the Many Realms yesterday.

“Well, at least my plan lured her magic out.” Conner shrugged, looking pretty chilled out for someone who’d been buried under an avalanche just a few minutes ago.

“Yeah, it lured my magic out, all right.” I wiped the sweat off my brow.

Now that Conner had unraveled his snowy spell, my thick winter gear was steaming.

“But my magic was totally out of control. I didn’t mean to create an avalanche.

” I hunched over with a sigh. “I just wanted to create a wall to make you two stop fighting.”

“And it worked, Red. We did stop fighting.”

Kato nodded in agreement.

I squeezed melted snow out of my sleeve. “How can you guys be so blasé about this? You were fighting like you wanted to really hurt each other.”

“You worry too much, Red. Kato and I were just sparring.” Conner looked far too relaxed for his own good.

“ Sparring ?” I spluttered. “By throwing exploding potions and dropping tree branches on each other?”

“How did you imagine Polymages might spar?” Kato spoke with unfathomable calmness. “You can’t hone your skills by playing with kid gloves on.”

Conner was nodding along like all of this made perfect sense, like they hadn’t both just been trying to put each other down hard.

“So you’re saying you weren’t mad? Not at all?” I added with a pointed look at them.

Kato blinked, his face confused. “Of course not. Why do you ask?”

“Well, for one, you didn’t hear me when I shouted out to you!”

“If I’d turned to acknowledge you, Conner would have seized the opportunity and taken me down.”

“He’s not wrong about that,” Conner said with a wolfish grin. “And if I’d let myself get distracted by your pretty impressive freak-out, Kato would have done the same to me.”

“Naturally,” Kato said smugly.

“But you both looked so upset. And your breathing was elevated!”

“Of course our breathing was elevated,” Conner laughed. “Sparring is strenuous exercise.”

“If you’re doing it right, anyway,” added Kato.

“So what you’re both telling me is that I freaked out and buried us all in an avalanche for nothing ?”

Conner gave my stiff back a reassuring pat. “I wouldn’t say it was for nothing. That avalanche was an impressive piece of magic.”

Even Kato looked impressed. “It really was. Though it could have been a little more controlled. It would be great if you didn’t become collateral damage to your own spells.”

My cheeks burned. I fought the urge to bury myself in another avalanche.

“You have a lot of magic, Seven,” Kato told me. “You just need to learn control.”

Conner snorted. “Try not to make it sound too exciting.”

Kato’s eyes locked with his. “Control might not sound exciting, but it is necessary. Not that I’d expect you to understand that, Conner.”

“Hey, I have control,” Conner protested. “I just don’t wax poetic about it. Or have the word printed in big, bold letters on all my t-shirts like you do, Kato.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Kato said with a roll of his eyes. “As always.”

Conner shrugged. “Better to be ridiculous than boring.”

“Sooo, have you guys found out where the Templars are keeping Kylie and the other missing Apprentices?” I cut in. I needed to distract the boys before they started ‘sparring’ again and I had to create yet another accidental avalanche.

Kato glanced my way. “I haven’t had a chance to do any digging yet, sorry. The General had me up late last night.”

“Late night pizza party?” Conner quipped with a snicker.

“Late night strategy session. Until three in the morning.” Kato suddenly looked so tired.

And now I felt bad for complaining about getting up before dawn. At least I’d scored a full night of sleep. Kato couldn’t have gotten more than two hours of shut-eye. Even so, he’d woken up early to train me. To help me. I really had to find a way to make it up to him.

Maybe he liked scented candles? My mom always said that the best thank-you gift was scented candles. Too bad they were in short supply. The only scented candles I’d ever seen were the ones Mom had made.

“So what were you and the Iron Wolf strategizing about, Kato?” Conner asked. “Let me guess. He wanted to brainstorm new ways to catch me and those other pesky Rebels.”

“Actually, you didn’t even come up in the discussion. The General and I were going over Summit preparations.”

I flinched at the reminder that the long-awaited Summit started today. The members of the Court, the most powerful and prestigious leaders from all across the Many Realms, would soon sit down to discuss whether or not they would invite our world to join them.

Conner saw me flinch and completely misinterpreted the reason.

“Don’t worry, Red. I’ve got you covered.

I’m chasing down leads on the Templars. In fact…

there’s a lead now.” He pulled out his buzzing phone.

“Gotta go. Try not to get into too much trouble without me.” He blew me a kiss, then vanished under a spell of invisibility.

“Do you think he’ll be ok on his own?” I asked Kato. “The Templars are very dangerous.”

“They are,” he agreed. “But so is Conner. And despite the big show he likes to put on, he is actually a very good scout. He knows how to keep his head down and stay out of sight. He won’t go charging in if the odds are stacked too heavily against him.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I usually am.”

Most Knights considered Kato to be arrogant, but that wasn’t the right word at all. He was just self-confident. And really, really good at his job.

“Conner and I will worry about the Templars. You need to stay focused on the tasks the mentors give you,” Kato said. “This week’s tests will be crucial to your future.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. Over the next six days, the Apprentices would be working on a series of key tasks, supervised by our mentors: six Knights, each one from one of the six Tribes.

“At the end of your magic assessments, at the Castle’s annual ball, the Knights will welcome this year’s Apprentices into their new Tribes,” Kato said. “This week’s tasks will help you discover which Tribe you belong in.”

Some of the Apprentices were pretty sure they already knew their Tribe, but others still had no clue. One thing was for sure, though.

“I know where I belong,” I told him.

Like Kato and Conner, I was a Polymage, one of only three in the Many Realms. Well, unless you counted that weird Templar with the unstable personality. But none of us really knew what was up with her—or even who she was.

When Kato spoke again, his voice was low, even worried. “The General knows what you are, Seven.”

“How?” I gasped.

Ok, so it wasn’t like it was a huge secret that I was a Polymage.

But Kato had told me he was sure that none of the mentors would rat me out to the General.

We were trying to keep my Polymage status a secret, at least until I got better control over my powers.

The General didn’t trust people who couldn’t control themselves—and he trusted people even less if he couldn’t control them.

“So, you think that means he’s going to be keeping an even closer watch on me now?” I asked.

Not that the General hadn’t already been watching me like a hawk.

“I think it’s safe to say that he’s already watching you more closely than we believed,” replied Kato. “Someone told him that you’re a Polymage. The General must have a spy at the Castle, someone who reports everything you do back to him.”

“But who? One of the Knights?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.

In the meantime, the General won’t make a move on you, not with the Court here, watching everything we do.

He wouldn’t want the leaders of the Many Realms to think there’s yet another Polymage Knight he can’t control.

The Court would have a field day with that. ”

They sure would. Way too many people on the Court considered Gaia to be a realm of primitives, at least when it came to magic.

And they weren’t wrong either. Before five years ago, there hadn’t even been any Knights, and the only magic on Gaia to speak of was the Curse that had almost wiped out humanity.

Kato offered me a smile and a comforting shoulder squeeze. “I’ll worry about the General, Seven. You worry about your Apprenticeship tasks and getting yourself ready for our next training session. I’ve left some books in your cottage which you might find useful.”

Actually, that did make me feel a little better. I’d always found diving into books—absorbing their knowledge—to be very relaxing. Knowledge really was power, and arming myself with it made me feel stronger.

I had to study, train, and do whatever else was necessary to get a handle on my magic. And I had to do it fast. Because the next time I lost control over my magic, I might just end up hurting someone.