Page 77 of The Tree of Spirits
“Don’t answer that. I just ate.” Cedar made a gagging gesture.
“There are hundreds of Watchers missing by now,” Angel said from the little chemistry lab she’d set up on the table. “I have the materials to make three artifacts, but it’s going to take a lot of Sorcerer and Dreamweaver magic to infuse those spells into the artifacts so they last long enough to find and rescue the Watchers. We can’t have the rings’ power fizzling out immediately. You sure you can handle expending so much magic, Conner?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll have help.” Conner snatched my hand, bringing me forward.
“Me?” I choked out.
“Of course. You’ve already performed the spells. So you obviously have the right kind of magic for this.” He led me over to the table and pulled out a chair for me. “I’ll handle the life force locating spell. You take on the dimensional jump spell, ok?”
“Sure,” I said, trying to sound confident—or at least not like I wasn’t totally freaking out.
Conner offered me an encouraging smile, then sat down and started drawing runes on one of the rings. When he was done, he passed me the ring. Then I started tracing my spell over it.
As soon as I did, I felt a strange pulling sensation, like someone was drawing blood out of me. I looked down at my arm, startled when I saw a glowing stream under my skin, flowing into the ring.
“That’s creepy.”
Conner glanced at my arms. “Best not watch it, Red, or it will freak you out.”
I looked away from my arms, concentrating my attention on the ring. My constellation glowed once, bright and beautiful, before being pulled into the metal.
Conner took the second ring. “Where did you learn these spells?”
I knew he was trying to distract me. Truth be told, I didn’t mind the distraction. In fact, I craved it. The pulling sensation was growing stronger. I could feel my energy waning. I’d only been at this for a few seconds, but already I felt like I’d been running for hours.
“A ghost named Nixi taught the spells to me.”
“A ghost.” Conner chuckled. “Only you, Red.”
“Only mewhat?”
“Only you could convince a ghost to teach you magic.”
“Well, she had a price,” I said.
“Let me guess. She wanted to possess someone.”
“Yes, the sister of one of the missing kids. Violetta was more than willing to agree to the terms if it meant saving her little sister.”
“You’re lucky the ghost agreed to give the body back when she was done,” Conner commented. “Most ghosts have to be forced out.”
“Nixi is a nice ghost,” I told him. “Though she did look, well, tempted to keep the body.”
“Ghosts don’t require sleep and they never rest,” Conner said. “So they have a lot of free time on their hands. They spendmost of that time watching and learning, gathering knowledge on all kinds of magic. They just can’tusethat magic, not unless they’re possessing someone. So you can see why she wanted to possess someone.”
I could. It also explained how Nixi knew the life force tracking spell, Sorcery magic. She must have once possessed a Sorcerer and gained some firsthand experience.
“Ok.” Conner set down the last ring on the table. “All done.”
“Me too.” When I rose from my chair, a rush of dizziness nearly knocked me off my feet.
Conner caught me before I fell. He swept me up and carried me over to the sofa. “Sorry about that. Infusing the spells into the rings takes a lot of magic. I should have warned you.”
“Actually, it’s my fault. That draining feeling was a pretty obvious warning. I just ignored it.” I sighed. “You used a lot of magic too. And yet I’m the only one tripping over my feet.”
“You’ve already done more than any other Apprentice I’ve ever known.” I felt him brush his hand over my forehead. “So go easy on yourself, ok? You’re new at this. You still need to build up your endurance.”
I tried to look at him, but my eyes just wouldn’t focus. Even though I was lying down, the room hadn’t stopped spinning.
