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“Because…” Eris shook her head. “Because our powers are supposed to be special.Weare 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 spellatrophyand the Elf spellenfeeblement. 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.”

“Wedidn’t agree on anything. The mirror ismycreation, and soIshall 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 hedoeslook 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.