Page 54 of The Tree of Spirits
“No time to celebrate, Savannah. There’s work to do,” I muttered to myself.
I focused on my objective. The pickup counter was in sight, just one tiny little magical hop away. All I had to do was take it.
I drew my teleportation constellation. Thesnap!came again, but this time it was followed by acrash!and more than a fewbangs!echoing through my dizzy head.
“What are you doing in here?”
I blinked up at a red-faced man in an apron, and that’s when I realized I was lying on the floor. I’d overshot the front of the line and teleported right through the wall—and into the pantry.
“Uh, sorry.” I rose shakily to my feet, dusting flour off my clothes. White on black. That wasn’t going away until I did laundry. “I was looking for the bathroom and I must have…slipped.”
“Bathroom’s that way,” the man snapped, thrusting his finger down the hall.
“Thanks.” I was sure my cheeks were as red as the tomatoes I’d knocked over. I diverted my eyes from the mess I’d made. “Sorry.”
By the time I’d finished pretending to go to the bathroom, the food pickup line was longer than ever.
CHAPTER 5
KNIGHTS & APPRENTICES
Afterfinallypicking up the tacos, I ran all the way back to the conference center, the lunch bags tucked carefully into my backpack—and in both my hands. But my run stalled as my destination drew near. The crowd was thick, and a big truck was blocking the road.
Rane waved at me. She was standing just outside her parents’ shop. Elves in smart white jumpsuits toiled away all around her, shouting and waving their hands at the dead tree they were slowly easing into the truck with telekinesis.
So Isidora and her Elves had come through for Rane. At least things were going right for someone today.
I burst through the doors of the conference center, spluttering, “Sorry I’m late!” as I deposited the lunch bags on the table.
All of the mentors and all of the Apprentices were gathered in the ballroom, thirty-six people in all. No one looked particularly impressed by my dramatic entrance.
Nala peered into one of the lunch bags, then said, “You’re late.”
Hadn’t I just said that?
“What took you so long?” Altair asked.
I could have told him about Mistress Meeta, the Chameleon, and my mishap with the teleportation spell, but I didn’t think that would help my case here. So all I said was, “Traffic was brutal. And the pickup line was really long.”
“She probably went off on another ill-fated adventure,” Orion said to Eris.
Hey, my adventures weren’t ill-fated. Or at least most of them weren’t.
“Whatever the case, lunch is already over, Apprentice.” Jareth distributed the lunch bags to the various teams. “Over foryou, anyway. Now go to the basement and clean something.”
“So I don’t get any lunch, just because I’m a few minutes late?”
“You’re more than a few minutes late.”
I watched the other Apprentices chomp down on their tacos. “This is pretty unfair, you know.”
Jareth shrugged. “Someday, you’ll get to be unfair to Apprentices too. That’s one of the perks of being a Knight.” Then he handed me a toilet brush and a bucket of cleaning chemicals.
I took the stairs down into the basement and got to work in the bathroom. Nevada followed. I gave her a curious look as she knelt on the floor next to me.
“I’m not hungry.” She pulled on a pair of cleaning gloves.
I knew she was every bit as hungry as I was, but she’d come down here anyway so I didn’t have to work alone. That’s one of the reasons she was such a good friend.
