Page 113 of The Tribes of Magic
“I hate to break it to you, Savannah. But in the Metamorph Tribe, morphing is pretty much everything.”
“There are other things,” I argued. “Strength and speed. And other physical skills like breathing under water or seeing in the dark.”
“All of which are accomplished by morphing some or all of your body.”
I knew he had a point, but admitting it would have been surrendering before the fight had even begun. I just couldn’t do that.
“Ready!” Jareth bellowed out.
Everyone got into position.
Jareth blew his whistle, and all the Apprentices kicked off from the start line, sprinting toward the next line painted in thegrass. I tried to keep up, but the other Apprentices werereallyfast, especially Dante and Rhett. Like supernaturally fast. No matter how much I pushed myself, I just couldn’t match their speed. They were always ahead of me.
Rhett was so ahead of me that he was already running back to the start line. His gaze met mine, and his lips spread into a huge grin.
I knew exactly what he was about to do, but I wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way. He was so quick that my heart barely had time to jump in fright.
Rhett changed directions and charged at me like a bull. If he hit me at that speed, he’d knock me out—and maybe knock out a few of my teeth too.
Our bodies collided. But instead of falling over, strength surged through me. I grabbed him, flipping us around so that when we fell, he was the one who hit the ground. His body cushioned my fall.
I jumped up immediately, adrenaline pumping through me. “What do you think you were doing?!” I shouted down at him.
My anger deflated the moment I realized Rhett wasn’t getting up. In fact, he wasn’t moving at all.
CHAPTER 4
KILLJOY
The adrenaline faded, making way for panic and dizziness. I stumbled to the side, but Dante was there in a flash, steadying me. Pain blossomed in my head. I rubbed it. Rhett and I had bumped heads.
I stared down at him and croaked, “Is he all right?”
Dante leaned down and tapped Rhett’s face. Rhett groaned and opened his green eyes. His gaze was unfocused, flickering around. But when he saw me, he jumped up and tried to rush me again.
Dante held him back.
“Move it, Winters,” Rhett growled.
“I’m not letting you run over my sister.” Dante hit him with a hard stare. “Again.”
“She’s the one who ran me over!” Rhett shouted.
He tried to push past Dante, but my brother was stronger. And Rhett’s head was bleeding. A lot. Also, one of his arms hung limply at his side.
Rhett redirected his fiery glare from Dante to me. “What are you playing at?”
I blinked back surprise. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You come here, pretending to be some weak little girl, and then you grab me and throw me like…like…”
“Like you’re a paper doll,” Dante offered helpfully.
Rhett looked away from me just long enough to glower at Dante. Then those angry eyes were back on me. “How did you get to be so strong? And why did you pretend to be so weak?”
“I didn’t pretend anything,” I told him. “I was weak. And then I wasn’t.”
“You aren’t making any kind of sense! What did you do to suddenly get so strong?”
