Page 4 of The Tribes of Magic
ACCIDENTAL AVALANCHE
Kato and Conner had us out of the snowy sea in half the time it had taken me to cast the accidental avalanche spell. If onlyIhad such a good handle on my magic.
“Nice going, Captain Rogue,” Kato told Conner as we cut through the woods, heading toward the big gates that surrounded the Castle’s expansive grounds.
Sunrise wasn’t far off, and we had to get Conner out of here before the grounds filled up with Knights. He was still a fugitive, after all, and I didn’t think the General would let him off the hook just because he’d helped us save the Many Realms yesterday.
“Well, at least my plan lured her magic out.” Conner shrugged, looking pretty chilled out for someone who’d been buried under an avalanche just a few minutes ago.
“Yeah, it lured my magic out, all right.” I wiped the sweat off my brow. Now that Conner had unraveled his snowy spell, my thick winter gear was steaming. “But my magic was totally out of control. I didn’t mean to create an avalanche.” I hunched over with a sigh. “I just wanted to create a wall to make you two stop fighting.”
“And it worked, Red. We did stop fighting.”
Kato nodded in agreement.
I squeezed melted snow out of my sleeve. “How can you guys be so blasé about this? You were fighting like you wanted toreallyhurt each other.”
“You worry too much, Red. Kato and I were just sparring.” Conner looked far too relaxed for his own good.
“Sparring?” I spluttered. “By throwing exploding potions and dropping tree branches on each other?”
“How did you imagine Polymages might spar?” Kato spoke with unfathomable calmness. “You can’t hone your skills by playing with kid gloves on.”
Conner was nodding along like all of this made perfect sense, like they hadn’t both just been trying to put each other down hard.
“So you’re saying you weren’t mad? Not at all?” I added with a pointed look at them.
Kato blinked, his face confused. “Of course not. Why do you ask?”
“Well, for one, you didn’t hear me when I shouted out to you!”
“If I’d turned to acknowledge you, Conner would have seized the opportunity and taken me down.”
“He’s not wrong about that,” Conner said with a wolfish grin. “And if I’d let myself get distracted by your pretty impressive freak-out, Kato would have done the same to me.”
“Naturally,” Kato said smugly.
“But you both looked so upset. And your breathing was elevated!”
“Of course our breathing was elevated,” Conner laughed. “Sparring is strenuous exercise.”
“If you’re doing it right, anyway,” added Kato.
“So what you’re both telling me is that I freaked out and buried us all in an avalanche fornothing?”
Conner gave my stiff back a reassuring pat. “I wouldn’t say it was for nothing. That avalanche was an impressive piece of magic.”
Even Kato looked impressed. “It really was. Though it could have been a little more controlled. It would be great if you didn’t become collateral damage to your own spells.”
My cheeks burned. I fought the urge to bury myself in another avalanche.
“You have a lot of magic, Seven,” Kato told me. “You just need to learn control.”
Conner snorted. “Try not to make it sound too exciting.”
Kato’s eyes locked with his. “Control might not sound exciting, but it is necessary. Not that I’d expectyouto understand that, Conner.”
“Hey, I have control,” Conner protested. “I just don’t wax poetic about it. Or have the word printed in big, bold letters on all my t-shirts like you do, Kato.”
