Chapter 2

Someone caught my hand, freeing me from the river of Watchers, pulling me behind a nearby building. But when the hands released me, when I turned around, no one was there.

"It's me," a familiar voice spoke out of nothingness.

It belonged to the invisible stranger.

I squinted into the empty space in front of me, trying to use my eyes to confirm where my ears had placed him. But the next time he spoke, he was behind me. He sure moved fast. And quietly.

"Are you all right?"

My nod was shaky. In fact, my whole body was shaky. I'd very nearly drowned inside the crowd. I hadn't even tried to escape. Fear had frozen me. I really had to get a better grip on that.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

He chuckled. "Fine. I'm infiltrating the Black Obelisk."

"You're right. I don't believe you." I rolled my eyes in what I hoped was his direction. "But, ok, I'll play along. Why would a Knight want to infiltrate the Black Obelisk?"

"Why would an Apprentice want to infiltrate the Black Obelisk?" he said, his voice light, teasing.

My stomach twisted. "Heard about that, did you?"

"Of course I heard about that. I know people. And people talk."

I slouched over.

"You should be proud," he told me. "That was the most enthralling Discovery Quest ever. It even beat mine, which is saying a lot."

"And so you decided to follow in my footsteps and infiltrate the Black Obelisk yourself?" I asked.

"Yes, I thought I'd steal a Watcher's uniform. I'd look good in black, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't know what you look like," I reminded him.

"Of course you don't. But you were supposed to tell me that black fits my delightfully roguish personality."

"Yeah, because that sounds exactly like something that I would say," I said drily.

He laughed, and I had to admit, it was a roguish laugh. Some might even call it ‘delightfully roguish'.

Someone else—I shook my head—not me.

"Well, this is where we part ways, I'm afraid," he said. "See you around."

"Wait."

"Yes?"

"When you were just in the Black Obelisk, you didn't happen to visit the Watchers' prison, did you?"

"You want to know if I talked to the man who attacked the Tournament yesterday."

Yeah. The General had hijacked the Knights' investigation before it had even begun. They didn't know who the man was, where he'd gotten that powerful suit of armor, or why he'd attacked the Oval. None of the Knights had looked very happy about being cut out of the investigation. Kato, in particular. So if I were Kato, I would have sent a Knight into the Black Obelisk to do a little investigating of my own. And who better to send than someone who could make himself invisible?

"And?" I asked the invisible stranger. "Did you talk to the prisoner?"

"Perhaps." His voice was cryptic, but that one word said it all.

"You did talk to him. I knew it!" I exclaimed. "I knew the Knights of Gaia wouldn't give up so easily. That guy was a serious threat. He held his own against seven Knights."

"And yet all it took was one Apprentice to bring him to his knees." He sounded more impressed than amused.

"I didn't do anything. Not really. It was Altair's mirror that took him down."

"Do you think that just anyone can use an enchanted object?" he countered. "You wielded that mirror, so that makes the victory yours."

Wow. My first victory in battle. If only the General weren't out to get me, I might have even earned a few Merit points for that.

"So did you figure out who the Techno Knight is?" I asked. "And where he got that armor?"

Silence descended.

"Hello?" I asked. "Are you still there?"

The invisible stranger sighed. "His name is Jon Park. And he's a Watcher."

"What?" I gasped. "Isn't it the Watchers' job to keep the Fortress safe? So why would one of them attack all those people?"

"Because he went rogue."

"That's why the General swooped in and took him away!" I realized. "So no one would find out that he had traitors in his organization. The Governor already threatened to replace him. I bet if she found out about this rogue Watcher, she totally would."

"Governor Meyer threatened to give the General the boot, did she?" The invisible stranger chuckled. "Maybe I should let her know about the General's misbehaving Watcher."

"You totally should," I told him. "If the General is fired…well, that might be the only chance I have of not getting cut from the Apprentice Program."

"He threatened to cut you?" His voice was sharper, even angry.

"He threatened to cut anyone who didn't earn five hundred Merit points, but yeah, he obviously made up that rule just for me. He thinks I cheated to get magic."

"Well, the joke is on him." I felt a hand touch my shoulder. "I'm sorry. If I'd known the General had cooked up this ridiculous scheme to make that stupid Scoreboard even worse, I would have done something to help you earlier. I should have been paying better attention to everything that's going on. I've just been so busy…"

Probably still hunting down any leads on who'd sent the Cursed Ones after the Chosen.

"Don't worry, I'll fix this," he promised me.

"How?"

He didn't answer. I heard footsteps heading away from me. He was gone.

"Savannah!" Kylie rushed toward me. "Are you all right?"

Bronte was at her side. "We thought you'd been crushed under that stampede."

"I'm fine," I assured them.

I didn't tell them about the invisible stranger. I was sure the Knights didn't want anyone to know that they'd sent one of their own into the Black Obelisk to investigate things the General wished to keep hidden.

"The caterer's shop is just down this street," I told them. "Come on."

Two minutes later, we were standing face-to-face with the caterer, a rather eccentric Alchemist with wild hair and a sharp tongue. His apron wasn't white; it was brown and made of thick, tough leather. And instead of a chef's hat, he wore a hard helmet. It's almost like he expected the food he prepared to fight back. Or maybe the armor was to protect him from disgruntled customers. He sure had a talent for rudeness.

"But why did you change the menu?" Bronte asked him for what felt like the millionth time.

"Because that beanpole of a woman doesn't know what's best," he snapped.

"Ms. Featherdale, you mean?"

"Yes. Ms. Featherfart."

Beside me, Kylie swallowed a snort.

"I know food." He wiggled his plump finger in Bronte's face. "I've been preparing meals for the six races for over forty years, young lady. I know far more about what they like to eat than some half-wit human ‘event planner' does."

"I'm sure you're very experienced. That's why we hired you." Bronte gave him an amicable smile. "But your contract requires you to follow Ms. Featherdale's menu."

He shrugged. "I improved the menu."

Bronte glanced at us, sighing. "This is going to take a while."

"Yeah," Kylie agreed. "And we still need to talk to the florist. Ok, Bronte, you stay here and try to convince him to put the menu back to what Ms. Featherdale ordered."

The caterer snorted. "Good luck with that."

"Meanwhile, Savannah and I will deal with the flowers." Kylie took my hand, and before Bronte had the chance to protest our abandoning her, she pulled me out of the shop.

"Sorry," Kylie said as she set a brisk pace down the street. "I had to get out of there."

"The caterer is pretty annoying," I agreed as we ducked inside a shopping mall. "I kind of feel bad leaving Bronte with him."

"Don't. Bronte is in her element. She'll get him sorted," Kylie assured me. "Hey, do you mind if we take a quick detour?"

"Where to?"

Her gaze flitted back and forth, scanning the area, like she was checking if anyone was watching us. "Oh, just to see a few friends. Come on."

She slipped past the barricade at the end of the hall and squeezed through the mostly-shut doors. I followed right behind her. The door led to an underground garage. Back in the World That Was, shoppers must have parked their cars here, but there weren't any cars in sight now. Instead there were a lot of people: sellers and buyers and big piles of merchandise too.

"What is this place?" I asked Kylie.

She smiled. "This, Savannah, is the Emporium's Black Market. Welcome to the Fortress's underworld."