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The members of Team Evil laughed in agreement.

“We’ve already won.” Mordon sneered at me. “You just haven’t realized it yet.”

I lifted my gaze from the half-moon, jack-o’-lantern grin he was flashing me. It was just so creepy.

“Ok, what exactly do you think you’ve won?” I demanded. “And what is your oh-so-awesome master plan that ensures your victory? The one where you inhabit Vertigo’s body? Yeah, great work there.” I gave him a big, sarcastic thumbs up. “Vertigo is nice, but her power was slowly driving her mad. Now that you’ve taken up residence in her body, you’ll be discovering that madness for yourself very soon.”

“The telepath’s powers are indeed intense, but nothing I cannot handle,” Mordon said, confident and arrogant. “Of course, your sister Bella would have made a preferable choice for my new body, but thanks to you, I couldn’t get her.”

“You lured supernaturals to you. That was the whole reason for the Tournament: to find the most desirable supernatural, someone unique,” I realized. “And then to take over their body.”

“Yes, but you ruined my plans.” Mordon smile hardened into a scowl. “Again.”

“There’s a lesson in that, you know,” I told him. “Don’t be a psychotic megalomaniac while Leda Pandora’s nearby.”

“You are no longer any threat to me,” Mordon said with a dismissive flick of his wrist.

“Because you took over Vertigo’s body?” I saturated my words with skepticism.

“Yes,” he said. “Vertigo is very powerful. Too powerful for the likes of you.”

I snorted.

“I have access to her memories, you know. And her thoughts. Right now, she’s screaming for you to save her like you promised.” His smile returned, cold and vicious. “Help me! Help me please!” he said in a mocking imitation of Vertigo. “Pathetic.” He laughed. “I guess your plan to save the poor girl didn’t work out all that well, did it?”

I cringed.

“Give up now, Leda Pandora. We both know I possess the power to incapacitate you. The only reason you defeated Vertigo before was by convincing her to stand down, which was what she wanted anyway. Well, I am not going to stand down. I am not stopping until I get what I want.”

“Oh, I know you won’t,” I told him. “Surrender would require a conscience, which I guess didn’t come with the magic upgrade. By the way, how did you take over Vertigo’s body?”

“Very, very easily,” he said, relishing every syllable. “I came across her when she was wandering, alone and lost and quite mad. I put her out of her misery when I took over her body and her magic.”

“Yeah, I got that,” I said impatiently. “Buthowdid you do it?”

An oily, self-satisfied smile curled Mordon’s lips. “Now, you don’t actually expect me to tell you that, do you?”

“Why not? You’ve already told me everything else.”

“Oh, yes, you have me right where you want me,” Mordon said, smiling over braided fingers. Then he waved at the barbarian warriors.

Several of them held me and Nero steady as the others drove spears through our arms, pinning us to the wall. Pain, sudden and excruciating, exploded like fireworks everywhere the spears punctured my body. I bit down hard on my lower lip, holding back a scream. I turned to look at Nero. He had even more spears in his arms, but he didn’t betray even the slightest hint of pain. There was only fury, cold and hard, smoldering in his eyes.

“So the Guardians figured out how to put their consciousness into another body. That is your plan for gaining magic,” he said, his voice as steady as his stare. “You don’t need to defeat your enemies. Because you canbecomeyour enemies.”

“Of course,” I growled through the agony. I wasn’t doing as good of a job of hiding it as Nero. “That’s what was going on back at Jace’s territory. He said people were popping up everywhere without their memories. People who were mysteriously missing from the Legion’s register. It was like they didn’t exist. Because they’reyou. They’re Guardians. Those people without memories are the empty shells left behind when you Guardians body-hop, when you bring your consciousness with you into a new body.”

“Indeed.”

“But what about Gemma Henley, the museum curator from Magic Grove? She lost her memories too, but unlike the other amnesia victims, she’s actually in the Legion’s register. She’s not a nobody.” I narrowed my eyes at Mordon. “She’s not a Guardian, is she?”

“No, she simply got in my way.” Amusement flashed in his eyes.

“Got in the way?” I chewed on that. “You were in Magic Grove just before I was, weren’t you? You tried to nab Vertigo then, when she was meeting with the curator, but it didn’t work out.”

“The silly girl fled from me.” Mordon lifted his hand to his face, trying to smooth out the agitated crinkle between his eyes.

“So Vertigo ran, and the curator got stuck in the crossfire,” I reasoned. “That’s how she lost her memory. Your weird body-hopping voodoo must not have hit her head-on. That’s why she didn’t lose all of her memories.”