Page 52 of The Tree of Spirits
“Come on, Winters.” Asher extended his hand to me. “Let’s find a nice spot for you to take a nap. That’s just what you need.”
I blinked. “They’re all so real.”
“Nah.” Nixi shrugged. “They don’t smell like people.”
I sniffed the air. “I don’t smell anything.”
Nixi nodded. “Exactly.”
“Wait.” I frowned. “Can you even smell things? You’re not exactly alive.”
“I’m not exactly dead now either, am I?” she countered.
“That ghost is a tricky one,” Conner told me.
“Very tricky,” Kato agreed. “She is clearly working with the beast. You’d best come with us, Seven.”
“Right. After all, we did come all the way here to rescue you, Red,” Conner flashed me a smile.
The whole world was spinning in circles. I was so dizzy I could hardly see, let alone stand. Sweat trickled down my forehead. A sharp, acidic taste coated my tongue. There was also the small matter of my racing heart. It pounded inside my chest, rattling my ribcage.
“They’re not real,” Nixi said. Her voice was so quiet, so muffled, spoken from beyond the veil of confusion that was smothering me.
I turned to the people who weren’t there, speaking in voices that weren’t theirs, and declared, “You are not real.”
Somewhere, the creature expelled an angry shriek, and the fog lifted from my mind. All the phantoms were gone. Only the Chameleon stood before me. It looked like a beautiful woman—with long, flowing hair and a pearly shimmer to her skin—but its voice was that of the old woman, deep and savage.
“Release me,” the creature hissed.
I blinked, and then the Chameleon was back in the crater. Or actually, as I began to realize, it had never left. Capricorn stood at the lip of the hole in the road, waving her hands, weaving her spell. Dirt bubbled up from underground, slowly filling the hole and burying the creature along with it. The earth was already up to the Chameleon’s chest.
“Release me!” it called out.
I stayed back.
“I will find all the people you love, Savannah Winters,” it snarled. “I will kill them.” It hacked out a cough as dirt closed around its neck, then it added in a wheeze, “And it will be all your fault.”
“You won’t be hurting anyone,” Capricorn told it.
She was glowing so brightly now, I couldn’t even look at her. I covered my eyes, and when the blinding flash of light sizzled out, the road, completely checkered with potholes just a few moments ago, was smooth once more. There were no holes, no cracks, not even a tiny chip. It looked better than I’d ever seen it. And the only trace of the beast was a whisper of light wafting up from the asphalt like steam after a scorching summer rainfall. The monster’s remains dissolved before my eyes, carried away by the breeze.
“So that’s it?” I asked Capricorn. “Just like that? So easy?”
“Oh, it was anything but easy,” she laughed lightly. “And I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“What did I do?”
“You kept the monster distracted, so I could work my spell.”
“Glad to be of service,” I sighed.
Back in my first Discovery Quest, I’d been the bait. And now I was the distraction. What a fine Knight I was turning out to be.
Capricorn must have sensed my mood because she offered me a smile and kind words. “You were a big help, Savannah. Really.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen a Chameleon so distracted by someone before,” Nixi said dreamily. “It must have thought you were an easy target.”
“Thanks, Nixi,” I grunted.
