Page 61 of The Tree of Spirits
I moved toward the back wall. “I just needed to buy us time.”
“Time for what?” Dutch demanded, his voice wavering.
I brushed my hand against the wall’s concrete surface. “To get everyone out of here.”
Dutch turned to Asher. “Uh, she realizes there’s still no exit out of this room, right?” He looked up at the solid ceiling. “I knew it! I knew she would be the death of us all!”
“Becauseyouare contributing so much to the escape plan.” Dante crossed his arms and glowered at him.
Nevada came to stand beside me. “We trust Savannah.”
“Thanks, guys. So I take it that means you don’t mind being my guinea pigs.” I gave them a hopeful smile.
“I guess that depends,” Dante said, looking uncertain. “Guinea pigs for what?”
“For some magic.” I set Nevada’s and Dante’s hands on my shoulders. “Hold on tightly.”
I waved my hand through the air, drawing the teleportation symbol. I had only half a second to pray that this would work before I felt the familiar rubber-bandsnap!The three of us shot forward.
The next moment, we were standing on the street, at the back side of the conference center. I’d done it! I’d teleported! And this time, I’d actually ended up where I’d intended to go. I’d teleported through solid concrete, rock, and earth. This was so cool.
“Are you ok?” I asked Dante and Nevada.
They only gaped at me in shock, not saying a word. Though they did look a bit green. Must have been the vertigo. It wasn’t so bad for me this time around. The dizziness had already faded from my head, but the two of them did not look great.
“Stay here. Hold on to something,” I said, then teleported back into the basement.
“Whoa, Winters!” Asher said when I popped up beside him. “How did you do that?”
“Magic.”
“Magic?” he repeated.
“Yeah.”
He looked at me like I’d just grown a few extra heads. “Where did you learn how to teleport?”
“Long story. Now, come on. Next two people. That door won’t hold forever.”
All the Apprentices rushed at me.
“I saidtwo! Not all of you!” I grabbed the nearest two hands, planted them on my shoulders, and teleported out of there.
The second I got back to the basement, the door burst open. Fantastic. I hummed my wood song, fast and loud. The crates in the room all started flying around in circles, bombarding the fiends, pushing them back from the doorway. The fiends fought back with fire and steel.
In the meantime, I got a few more pairs of Apprentices out of the basement. But it didn’t take the fiends long to destroy the wooden crates that were protecting us. One of them unleashed a noxious potion. It smelled like spoiled milk and unwashed feet. An unnatural breeze blew it toward us.
That dark, ominous cloud now separated me from Kylie, Asher, and two other Apprentices—and the fiends who held them. Two Apprentices, Bronte and Dutch, stood with me, in the cloud’s path.
“Go!” Kylie shouted at me. “Get them to safety!”
I hesitated.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Winters,” Asher coughed, then kicked one of the fiends.
I grabbed the Apprentice on either side of me, then teleported us to the street above. The last thing I saw as my spell shot us out of there was Kylie and Asher passing out on the floor from the potion’s stinky fumes.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Bronte demanded, jumping into my path.
