Chapter 6

Kato's statement propelled the other Knights into a heated debate.

"Human?" Eris prodded the armor debris pile with the toe of her boot. "You think that fiend is human?"

"Ridiculous," Orion scoffed. "More likely, he is one of the Rebels. He attacked us, Kato, not the humans. They were just collateral damage."

"It's not the Rebels," Kato said. Turbulence swirled beneath his icy tone.

"He could be a supernatural being from another realm," Eris suggested.

"No, he's from Gaia." Kato held up a chunk of armor. "See that? The armor's made of materials from this realm."

I took the piece from him and turned it over in my hands. "Scrap. Kato means the armor is made of old scrap. Scrap from the World That Was." I tossed the lump of warped metal back into the junk heap.

Kato dipped his head in acknowledgement. "The armor was made by someone with a lot of skill but limited resources and no magic. Someone human. He built a suit to mimic magic. That's probably why he stole the two WANDs: to see if he could reverse-engineer them using mundane means."

"You can't reverse-engineer magic," Eris said, her laugh uneven. "And you can't mimic magic with technology either."

"Why not?" Kato replied. "Think of it this way: when you summon something like a tornado, your magic manipulates the atmospheric conditions around you. Why can't technology do the same?"

"Because…" Eris shook her head. "Because our powers are supposed to be special. We are supposed to be special."

Orion set his hand on her shoulder. "We are special."

"He's right." Ainsley took a step toward them. "It's more than just our magic that makes us special. We're special because of who we are. Because of what we do. And because of why we do it." She gave her wrist a flick. "A few fake tricks can't turn a fiend into a hero. He's still a villain."

"A villain who seriously wiped the floor with us."

Everyone's attention snapped to Jareth.

"Hey, it's true." He shrugged. "His techno suit made him pretty much invincible."

"Not really." Altair swiped the magic mirror off the ground; I'd dropped it in fright when the Techno Knight had thrown a street sign at me. "The Mirror of Woe weakened him."

"What exactly does this mirror do?" I asked.

"It's enchanted with a variety of spells," replied Altair. "But the two main spells are the Sorcery spell atrophy and the Elf spell enfeeblement. The mirror finds your foe's weakness. Then it debilitates your foe, both physically and mentally."

"That sounds very powerful."

Altair stood up a little taller. "The Mirror of Woe is the most powerful enchanted object I have ever made."

Then it was lucky for me that I'd selected it to use against the Techno Knight—and lucky for the other Knights that Altair hadn't used it in the Tournament. He would have taken them all out. Maybe Alchemists weren't such total nerds after all.

"Mirror of Woe?" Jareth said with a slight tilt of his head. "Dude, you have got to stop calling it that."

I stifled a laugh. It was just too funny to hear a Knight of Gaia use the word ‘dude'.

"Besides," Jareth continued, "I thought we'd agreed to call it the Decimator."

"We didn't agree on anything. The mirror is my creation, and so I shall decide what it's called."

Jareth tapped the mirror with an armored finger. "Decimator is cooler."

"It's inaccurate." Altair readjusted his grip on his invention. "And, anyway, Mirror of Woe, is much cooler."

Kato stepped between them. "We can debate the mirror's name later. Right now, we have more pressing concerns. Like figuring out who this guy is. And why he attacked the Tournament."

"Leave that to me," Nala said in her smooth, even voice. She peeled the helmet off the Techno Knight's head.

Long, smooth black hair covered his face like curtains, dripping with sweat. Nala tipped his head back, revealing his face.

"He's not a Rebel," Orion conceded.

The Techno Knight was a young, fit man in his early twenties.

"But he does look familiar." Altair continued to stare at him for a while longer, before he looked away, shaking his head. "If only I knew why."

"Wake him," Kato told Ainsley. "Then we'll ask him."

Ainsley opened her mouth to perform the waking spell, but snapped it shut again when a black SUV oozed to a smooth halt beside us, right in the middle of the roundabout. Four Watchers jumped out of the vehicle, followed by the General.

His eyes honed in on me immediately. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Helping," I said.

His gaze swept over the fallen debris. "I can see that."

I winced just imaging all the Merit points I'd lose for doing the right thing.

The General turned toward Kato. "We will take things from here."

"This man attacked the Tournament, General," Kato replied. "We were about to question him to learn why."

"I already know why." He waved the Watchers forward, and they grabbed the unconscious Techno Knight, loading him into the SUV. "The Rebels sent him."

"He has no magic." Kato held up a piece of the broken armor. "He's not a Rebel."

"Of course not." The General's tongue clicked. "But the Rebels did send him." He grabbed the chunk of broken armor. "And gave him this armor. Armor made by the Rebel Alchemist Angel Rivera."

"I know Angel's work, and this isn't it." Altair shook a piece of the breastplate, and some of that neon-green fluid oozed out. "This isn't even magic."

"People change. Angel isn't the same person she once was. Because that person never would have betrayed the other Knights by leaving," the General told him. "Now hand over all pieces of armor that you've retrieved. And then clean up this mess before someone gets hurt." He indicated the toppled trees and downed power lines.

The Knights didn't argue. They handed over the armor. And then, as the black SUV drove off with the prisoner, they set about fixing the disaster zone, leaving me alone in the middle of the street.

I hurried off after Kato. "Who is Angel?" I asked him, running to keep up with his pace as he circled the Oval, waving his hands, using his magic to smooth out the deformed, leaning fence.

"She was Altair's friend," replied Kato. "They were Apprentices together, four years ago."

"When Angel joined the Rebels, they stopped being friends, didn't they?"

"We all lost friends to the Rebels."

"Do you think the Rebels sent the Techno Knight?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know. I'd like to believe that they would never put innocent people in danger, but…" He didn't finish that sentence. Instead, he stopped running just long enough to kick the fence.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you did assault the fence you just repaired," I pointed out.

"I shouldn't have done that. I just…"

"Got angry?"

He didn't say anything.

"Hey, it's ok to have feelings, you know," I told him.

I waited, but he still wasn't talking. Whatever he was feeling right now, he seemed to be having trouble processing it.

"I can help," I said.

"With what?"

"Whatever you need. Making repairs. Figuring out who the Techno Knight is. I'm really good at not minding my own business, you know."

He snorted. "You don't say."

I nodded. "It's got to be my number one skill. Well, that or annoying the General, but I doubt that will be useful in this?—"

"Seven."

"Yes?"

"You should go home."

"Sick of me already?" I was going for a teasing tone, but mostly I just sounded tired.

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?" I stepped up close to him, so close that I could sort of see his eyes behind the visor.

He set his hands on my shoulders. "That guy in the suit nearly took down seven Knights singlehandedly. Whatever is going on here, it's very dangerous. And you need to stay far, far away from it."

"But—"

"You're like a moth to a flame, Seven. You charge toward danger, not away from it."

I laughed. "I am so not like that."

"You ran toward the Cursed Ones when they attacked the Garden. You ran toward the battle when the Techno Knight attacked the Tournament."

My smile faded.

"I just want you to be safe." Kato gave my shoulders a squeeze.

Then he took off running, moving so fast that he left me far behind.