Page 34 of The Tree of Spirits
“You should try tripping one,” Asher suggested, then took a bite of his sandwich.
Kylie rolled her eyes at him. But that only gave me a moment’s reprieve. Her attention snapped right back to me. “You know wehaveto talk about this.”
“Actually, I kind of think we’ve talked about it far too much already,” I said quietly.
“Agreed,” said Nala, who was sitting with her Apprentices at the neighboring table.
“Oh, come on, Nala! There’s never any good gossip on Kato. The juiciest scandal he ever had was the time he wore off-white armor because he’d wrecked his shiny white set battling two fire tigers,” Jareth said, grinning.
He was also here with all of his Apprentices. Which included Dante. Because this conversation wasn’t embarrassing enough already without my brother here to witness it. Why, oh, why did today have to be the one day that all the teams ate lunch together?
“And this story was just starting to get gooood.” Jareth’s gaze slid to me. “So, tell us, snowflake, howdidyou manage to meltKato’s icy heart? And did he at least have the decency to take off his helmet before he kissed you?”
A few of the other mentors snorted. Even Nala smiled.
There were also a few rounds of,Knights wear helmets!Apparently, the Knights had turned Kato’s favorite catchphrase into a song.
“You guys are being pretty mean to Kato,” I snapped at them.
“It’s all in good fun, snowflake. We all love Kato like a brother, but the dudeseriouslyneeds to lighten up,” Jareth laughed.
All of the other Knights nodded in agreement. Even super-serious Nala.
“But good on you for sticking up for your boyfriend.” Jareth gave me a big thumbs up.
As everyone laughed again, I prayed for divine intervention. If this was the kind of torture I was in for with my new Castle family, maybe I should have stayed in Bayshore.
“Hey, what’s that?” Jareth’s gaze dipped to my neck.
I glanced down at the orchid necklace that Conner had made me. It must have slipped out of my t-shirt when I’d leaned forward to bury my head in my hands.
“Nothing!” I said, trying to tuck the necklace back into my shirt.
Jareth caught my hand, studying the necklace closely. “It doesn’t look like nothing.”
Ainsley joined him. “That was made withverypowerful magic.”
She waved her hand over my necklace, then retracted it just as quickly, like it had zapped her with a heavy dose of electricity.
“Verypowerful magic,” she said again.
“Not the sort of thing you can pick up at a gift shop,” Orion agreed.
Oh, goody. He’d come to stare at my necklace too.
“It’s a gift from your boyfriend, isn’t it?” Jareth asked, squinting at the necklace.
Ainsley shook her head. “No, that doesn’t look like Kato’s magic.”
“It’s very pretty,” commented Eris.
“Veryromantic, you mean.” Kylie smirked at me. “Hey, are those little hearts nestled inside the orchids?”
Jareth cracked a grin. “Whoa, snowflake! Here I was, totally astonished that you’d made Kato fall for you. And now you’re telling me that you have enchantedtwoKnights?”
“I didn’t tell you that!” I protested. “I don’t even have a boyfriend.”
“Right, you havetwo.” Jareth winked at me. “So, who is this other Knight? I bet we know him.”
