Page 73 of The Tribes of Magic
“I’ll go with you.”
She got up and walked with me toward the supply station. It wasn’t far, but we walked slowly. The buckets we carried were heavy and full of black muck. We didn’t want to spill.
“So you’re going with Kato to the Ball?” Nevada said as we walked.
“No,” I laughed. “It was just a training exercise, Nevada.”
“But you asked him?”
“Yes.”
“And he said yes?”
I frowned.
“He said no?”
“No. Actually, he didn’t answer at all. We didn’t get to that part. We were talking about the General and how he believes I bewitched Kato to make him help me. I don’t have very good control over my magic, you know, and I was worried he might be right. So then Kato decided to prove I hadn’t bewitched him, which he did by bewitching me. That made me feel all happy and silly and whatnot, so I asked Kato to go to the Ball with me. And then…well, he broke the spell. I felt really embarrassed and sort of ran off, so I never got an answer.”
“Uh, Savannah?” Nevada set down her bucket, then she pointed behind me.
I turned to look. A tidal wave came crashing out of the swamp. Before I could process what was happening, the wave washed over all the other Apprentices, catching them in a swirling whirlpool. Eris tried to stop it, but she got sucked into the water too. Birds burst out of the canopy, fleeing in terror. Storm clouds filled the sky.
“What the…”
Nevada pointed at my hands, and I looked. They were glowing. The glow was bright, blue, and unmistakable. Gasping in surprise, I dropped the buckets.
“I did this? I caused the tidal wave? How? Why? How?”
“Maybe you could make the whirlpool stop spinning?” Nevada spoke in a soft, calming voice, the way you’d talk to a crazy person.
I was the crazy person. I’d made a tidal waveanda whirlpool, and I had no idea how I’d done it.
“Ok.” I took a slow, deep breath. “I’ll try to make it stop.”
I focused on my breathing. And the whirlpool. It stopped spinning. The wild water slid back into the swamp. The storm clouds retreated, revealing sunny skies. Everything was quiet.
I looked at Nevada. “What happened?”
“I think your Nymph magic is a lot stronger than you think.”
Eris and the Apprentices came slogging out of the swamp, drenched from head to toe. My mentor caught my gaze. Her lips curled back into a semi-snarl.
Oops.
“Your emotions are a lot stronger than you think too,” Nevada added. “And they are fueling your magic.”
She was right about that. Anytime my emotions got away from me, so did my magic. And then came the big, powerful, unplanned, uncontrolled spells.
“Also, Savannah,” Nevada said. “I don’t think your Polymage best friend trio thing is nearly as simple as you think.”
CHAPTER 3
FIRE AND FURY
After my fantastic display of out-of-control magic, Eris decided I’d had enough practice for one day. She banished—er, gently nudged—me away from the swamp, sending me deep into the woods to work by myself. Translation: she didn’t want to give me a chance to drown everyone again.
So here I was in this charming, overgrown forest, building a fence using nothing but my magic and fallen tree branches. I hadn’t mastered enchantment or water magic yet, but I did know how to hum. I could lift, shape, arrange, and set all the wood pieces of the fence with nothing but the power of my voice. It was actually pretty cool—and a lot of fun.
