Page 80 of The Tree of Spirits
“Or the Templars could have bewitched them to do it,” I countered. “Think about it. Rane’s family’s shop is right there on the road to the conference center. When the tree died, it had to be removed. And that tree is massive. Removing it meant bringing in a big truck that blocked the whole road. That slowed down the Watchers. They couldn’t get their forcefield buster to the building. One of the Knights had to carry it.”
Understanding flashed in Conner’s eyes. “The Templars lured the Knights out of the conference center, so they couldn’t protect the Apprentices. That’s why they tripped the jewelry store’s alarm. That wasn’t a mistake at all.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I nudged a ripple in the carpet with the toe of my shoe. “And then there’s Xael, the Metamorph who fell in love with an Elf.”
“You think he was bewitched too?”
“No, I think he actually loves Miatrix. He didn’t want to fight in the war between their clans, but he didn’t know how to get out of it. Then, suddenly, the solution came to him in a dream. Xael staged the theft of Raytan’s trucks. He set off an explosion to wound himself and his cousins. All of that put Raytan’s business out of commission for a while. And Rane’s family was forced to find another removal company for their tree. That company had only one appointment free, an appointment forexactlywhen the Templars needed the road blocked.”
Conner frowned. “That does seem quite serendipitous.”
“Oh, but there’s more! After the incident at the Tournament, the General sent the Techno Knight’s armor to Daykan for analysis.”
“Daykan. The famous Alchemist?”
“Right. After he looked at the armor, Daykan sent it back, using the General’s usual courier.”
“The General’s usual courier.” Conner considered my words. “That’s Raytan.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. I saw one of Raytan’s trucks. It was carrying the debris from the battle at the Brotherhood’s compound.” I cleared my throat. “Ok, so shortly after Daykan handed over the armor to the courier—one of Raytan’s guys—all of Raytan’s trucks went missing.”
Conner chewed on his lip. “The Templars stole the armor.”
I nodded. “And covered up the theft by making it just one of many things that went missing. When the Templars barged into the conference center yesterday, they didn’t have just the one suit. They had three of them. So I think they stole the techno suit to use it as a template to make two more of them. The two of us were even there when they tested out those suits.”
“At the Brotherhood’s compound in the Park,” Conner said slowly.
“Yes! The Templars tested the suits in the Park. Then they used them for extra firepower when they came to kidnap the Apprentices. Don’t you see? The Templars planned this. They manipulatedeverything.”
Conner jumped off the sofa. “They are certainly devious. They’ve planned this all very carefully. That means they likely sent the Watchers into another dimension as a distraction.”
“Yeah, but a distraction from what?”
He crossed his arms, frowning. “I don’t know. They want to distract us from whatever they’re planning next, I suppose. We need to figure out where they’re going, so we can be waiting there for them…”
“What is it?” I asked.
His eyes focused on me. “We might not know where they’ll be, but I think we can figure out where they’ve been.”
“How?”
“Remember the metal orb you picked up from the battlefield in the Park the other day?”
I nodded.
“That’s a celestial globe,” he said. “It’s used to communicate with the Spirit Trees, like a navigator for the Many Realms. All of the Spirit Trees are connected by a kind of magical energy network that flows between realms. The celestial globe projects the symbol—the coordinates—for the tree you want to travel to, and then the Spirit Tree takes you there.”
“I’ve seen that,” I replied. “The car that brought me to the Fortress projected something inside the tree.”
“That’s the human hack to navigate the Many Realms. The magical method is the celestial globe, like the one you got from the Templars in the Park. The thing is, celestial globes keep a history of when and where they’ve been. We can browse that history, Red. We can prove that these Templars are from the Many Realms, and we can use their own celestial globe to do it.”
Hope blossomed inside of me. I could feel my lips stretching into the start of a smile. “We could prove that you and the other Rebels had nothing to do with any of this!”
“Yeah, if we’re lucky, we can figure out which realm the Templars come from. And then we can rescue the Apprentices they kidnapped.” Smiling back at me, he grabbed my hands. “So, tell me, Red, where did you put the celestial globe you found?”
“It’s at my house.”
Conner pulled me toward the door. “Let’s go get it then. Before all the Watchers are back. Remember, they’re still looking for you. And your house is one of the first places they’ll search.”
