Page 11 of The Tree of Spirits
“Eventually, though, I had to chase off a lot of monsters before I could get a look inside the vehicle. A bunch of fire tigers had turned it into a cozy monster den. Luckily, the SUV was still in one piece. Mostly.”
“And did you find any evidence in the SUV?”
“Yeah. It drove to the Garden on auto pilot. Someone pre-programmed the course and sent it there. The seatbelt release was part of that program too. The belts were heavily reinforced. They were strong enough to restrain a raging zombie.”
“So someone tied up the Cursed Ones in the SUV and sent it to the Garden. Then they remotely opened the restraints to release the Cursed Ones.” My throat clenched up. “Theyunleashed the Cursed Ones into a closed area full of people, knowing those people had no way to escape.” Fear and anger twisted up into a tight ball inside of me, and I suddenly felt both very cold and very hot at the same time. “What kind of monster would do something like that?”
“The human kind.” Conner’s eyes were as hard as diamonds. “Their signature is all over this. I found their name buried inside the auto-pilot program that drove that SUV into the Garden.”
“And?” I said eagerly. “Who is it?”
“The Brotherhood of Earth.”
CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSIONS
Conner’s words hit me like a slammed door in the face. “The Brothers did all this?” I shook my head, frowning. “Sure, they’re kind of creepy, but they always try to help people, not hurt them. And you’re telling me they unleashed Cursed Ones on innocent people? No way! They hate magic. They’d never use it.”
“Well, when you’re cuckoo, the ends always justify the means,” he said.
“Wait, you don’t think they were also behind the attack on the Knights at the Tournament, do you? You don’t think they sent that warrior in tech armor?”
“That would fit with their other behavior, but let’s not jump to conclusions.” Conner turned, his gaze sliding over the field between the two fences. “We need to focus on what we do know. For instance, we know the Brothers stole one of the Watchers’ SUVs to drive the Cursed Ones into the Garden.”
“Any idea how that SUV got past the Black Obelisk’s gate?” I asked. “The Watchers check every vehicle that tries to enter their district.”
“No, I don’t know how they got past the gate.” Conner frowned. “Maybe they have a guy on the inside, someone in the Black Obelisk who opened the gate for them.”
“Yeah, someone like Jon Park,” I said. “We already know he’s all kinds of shady. He’s the Techno Knight who attacked the Tournament. I bet he was the one who let the SUV with all those Cursed Ones into the Garden too.”
“That does seem likely,” Conner agreed.
“So, the Brothers are using the Cursed Ones as weapons,” I said. “They sent them after the Chosen.”
“Yes,” said Conner. “And they used them to attack the Apprentices at the Garden, to rob the Government of a whole class of potential new Knights.”
“And now they’re using them to guard their base.” I glared at the field, the ‘moat’ of Cursed Ones inside the fenced-in area. “But why here? What does the Brotherhood want with this place?”
“Well, the Watchers have no eyes in the fallen districts. So that makes this the perfect place to stage a revolution to take over the world.”
“You really think they want to take over the world?” I asked him.
“They certainly didn’t do all of this just to throw a little chaos into the system. They’ve hit targets all over the world. That means they have operatives all over the world. And the attacks were too specific, too coordinated. They’re clearly trying to take out future Knights.”
“I guess we’re easier targets.” My throat was so tight, I could barely get the words out.
“Hey, don’t worry.” Conner set his hands on my shoulders and waited for me to look at him. “Everything will be fine, Red. They might think they’ve selected easy targets, butthey’veseriouslymiscalculated. They sent the Cursed Ones after someone who can repel them.”
“I’m not their only target,” I reminded him.
“No, you’re not. But they didn’t just miscalculate when they made you a target. They miscalculated when they made your friends a target. I know you will do everything in your power to protect them.”
“I will.” I felt my fists clench. “But the Cursed Ones aren’t the Brothers’ only weapon. They have soldiers too.” I looked at the armed commandos patrolling the compound. “So my weird ability isn’t going to be enough. I need some actual spells.”
“You’re right,” Conner said, so quietly that I nearly missed it. But his next words were louder, and he looked me right in the eye when he said them, “I’ll help you with that. I will teach you spells.”
“You will?”
