Page 6 of The Tree of Spirits
CHAPTER 2
BEYOND THIS POINT LIES MONSTERS
Ikept picturing Marlow in the Black Market garage, laughing and joking with the happy kids who’d formed a ring around him. He tossed them the toys he’d brought back from the Wilderness. He was like a really young Santa Claus decked out in post-apocalyptic camouflage wear.
I pictured him bartering with Kylie…and flirting shamelessly with my mom.
Marlow was a good man. A decent man. And judging from the total freak-out his dog was having, he was in very big trouble.
Wolf led me to the edge of the Emporium. There, at the west end, a tall and intimidating fence separated us from the fallen Park district.
Beyond this point lies monsters, a helpful sign warned me.
“Those are cursed lands. Are you sure Marlow is out there?” I asked Wolf.
She barked. That sounded very much like a yes.
Great.
“That’s far enough!”
I smiled at the two guards who’d converged on my location to block access to the gate. They didn’t return the gesture.
“State your business here!” one of them demanded.
“Hello, there. I’m an Apprentice Knight.”
Their gazes dipped to the official Castle symbol printed on my black Apprentice t-shirt.
“My name’s Savannah Winters.”
No hint of recognition touched their eyes. So they hadn’t heard of me. Good. That meant the General hadn’t yet gotten around to warning every single soldier, guard, and Watcher in the Fortress about me.
“I’m here on an urgent Quest.”
“Access to the Park is restricted,” the guard growled. “This is a Cursed zone.”
“I know. But like I said, I’m on an urgent Quest.” I kept the confident smile planted on my face, like I had every right to be here. Like the General totally wouldn’t order them to arrest me if he knew what I was trying to do.
My act seemed to work. One of the guards made a hand signal to the other, then they both ducked back into the guardhouse. A few moments later, the gates parted just wide enough for me and Wolf to squeeze through. I yelped when they slammed shut again like a pair of metal shutters, moving so fast that I nearly became a Savannah sandwich.
The guards didn’t even pop their heads out of their house to check if I was still breathing.
Nice.
“Where to now?” I asked Wolf.
She barked.
Ran forward a few steps.
Turned around to make sure I was following.
Then took off running again.
I could barely keep up with her.
She led me over the river and through the woods. The Park was very different from the other districts I’d seen in the Fortress. It was wilder. More feral. A ceiling of impending doomhung over the area, pressing lower the deeper into the district we ventured.
