Page 36 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

LINKED

C onner and I snuck into the Castle, cloaked under a veil of invisibility.

Being a Rebel and the Rebel leader at that, he really wasn’t supposed to be there.

I grabbed the Paragons’ spellbook out of the locker I’d put it in this morning.

Then Conner led me to a room where we could try out the special ultra long distance teleportation spell. I was surprised by his choice.

“The Metamorphs’ library? Why here?”

“Why not?” he countered.

“Aren’t you worried the Metamorphs might walk in on us?”

Conner laughed. “No.”

“Because?”

“Because the Metamorphs hardly ever come in here. This is a place for reading. And the Metamorphs aren’t big on reading.”

I guess he had a point. The Metamorphs were more into physical endeavors than mental ones.

“Ok,” I said. “Let’s get started.”

The spellbook’s pages looked blank to Conner, so I had to describe the spell to him, step by step.

Teleportation was a Dreamweaver spell, which meant we had to weave strands of otherworldly magic into a complex pattern.

And boy was it really complex. I’d never encountered such a difficult spell before.

It was a good thing there were two of us because I wasn’t sure it was even possible to weave this spell with only two hands.

“Hey, that tickles, Red,” Conner laughed lightly.

We’d been at this for fifteen minutes, and we were only on the fourth glyph in the spell sequence. I was holding Conner’s left hand, moving it to duplicate the pattern as best I could. My right shoulder was poking him in the back, and our ankles were tangled up in each other.

“This spell is like a game of Twister,” I grumbled.

“What’s Twister?”

“An old party game my mom still has from The World That Was,” I told him. “Ok, we’re ready for the final symbol now. We just need to—oomph!”

Conner caught me when I stumbled. Luckily, he still had one free hand. “Careful. One wrong move will shatter the whole spell, and then…we’ll have to start all over again.” His face grew serious as our eyes met.

“Uh, Right…” I couldn’t look away.

Conner cleared his throat, his smirk returning. “You were trying to steal a hug, weren’t you, Red? There’s no need for covert maneuvers. My hugs are always free for you.” He winked at me.

That snapped me out of it. I snorted. “Good to know, but we can hug later. After we’ve successfully pulled off this spell.”

“Good idea. It’s a date.”

“Uh…”

“Shall we continue?”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat, then made the movement, drawing the next glyph. This one was the trickiest one yet, involving two of my fingers on the same hand making perfect little loops—in opposite directions. Symmetry was more important than speed, so I took my time.

When that was done, I linked my arm with Conner’s. “Ok, now we pool our magic and channel our combined power into fueling the teleportation spell. Ready?”

“I’m ready.”

I felt a rush of energy the moment our magic connected, like I’d just grabbed the sun. It didn’t burn me, though, it exhilarated me. There was so much magic, so much power, so much potential. It felt like we could do anything.

It was invigorating, inspiring, overpowering…but most of all, deeply personal, like I was sharing a piece of my soul with him. And he was sharing a piece of his with me. There was something so familiar about his magic.

“Your magic feels a lot like Kato’s.”

“Does it? Huh. Interesting. Well, we are both Polymages. So I guess that makes sense.”

“I wonder if my magic feels like yours and Kato’s too. I can’t sense my own magic. What does it feel like to you?”

“Your magic feels optimistic and eager and…fluttery.”

“Fluttery?”

“Indeed. I have that effect on girls, you know.” He winked at me.

I laughed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I know.”

I laughed again. “Ready to activate the teleportation spell?”

“Of course.”

His confidence was obviously infectious because I felt a sudden boost in my own. Our magic continued to blend, beating together like one heart. One heart to power the spell.

I felt a sharp snap, and then a hard, sudden stop. Conner and I bumped heads.

“Are you all right?” He was usually so easy and relaxed, but right now he looked more than a little disoriented from the jump.

“I think so.”

I looked around. We stood in a forest. The underbrush was thick and overgrown, like it hadn’t been cleared in years.

There were all sorts of trees. Tall trees, thick trees, tiny trees, spindly trees with bright green foliage.

The ground was rocky. It wasn’t hard to imagine those rocks sparkling gold in the sun, but today, on this very overcast morning, the rocks were variations between beige and red-brown.

There had to be a waterfall nearby. I could hear the dynamic yet soothing crash of falling water. The air was thick with a cool, pleasant mist, a welcome respite from the harsh summer sun.

“This is the place?” I asked. “The Dark Woods?”

“Yes. This is the place.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “We made it. We’re here.”

A feral, inhuman scream cut through the peaceful forest. We weren’t the only ones here. The Cursed Ones were here too.