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“The secret to being a hero is classified?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

I couldn’t believe that.

Then again…the Government had stripped away most of our rights and freedoms after the Curse hit. Freedom of information had been one of the first things to go. Like Mom always said, it’s easy to control people when you keep them ignorant.

“Ok, sure, so I’m not a Knight.” I flashed Kato a grin. “But you should tell me all about the Code of Conduct anyway.”

He let out something that sounded awfully close to a sigh. “Do you always question authority?”

“Yes.” I watched him tap his head again. “Are you always so stubborn?”

“Yes.”

I snorted. “Look, I know you’ve faced countless Cursed Ones and think you’re this tough, intimidating, knuckle-cracking, armor-wearing, sword-swinging magic whiz…”

“Knuckle-cracking?”

I shot him a shrug coupled with an unapologetic smile. “But you’re not in your fairytale castle anymore, Kato. This fog is as thick as cotton candy.” I swiped my hand across my forehead, wiping the sweat away. “And hot enough to melt the armor right off your body.”

“That is impossible,” he said calmly.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve learned to be really careful with that word. After all, only sixteen years ago people thought magic was impossible. And now we have Knights, Spirit Trees, and spells. And I’m stuck in a magical dimension between realms.”

“You are surprisingly astute for someone who can’t go more than two sentences without cracking a joke.” His hands flashed out, catching me when I stumbled over a bump in the ground.

“Thanks.” I blushed.

“You’re welcome.” He released me and dipped into a bow.

It was the smoothest, prettiest, most elegant bow that I’d ever seen. I wondered if I would ever learn to bow like that.

“Seven.”

I jumped at the sound of my new nickname—and the hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry, I guess I got lost in my own thoughts,” I told Kato.

“I know what that’s like.”

I wasn’t half as surprised by his words as I was when he unlatched his helmet in front of me and tucked it under his arm. Concealed beneath that knightly helmet was a real person. A teenage boy with eyes that shone like blue diamonds and hair as black as a raven’s feathers. Handsome and heroic, he looked like a prince straight out of a fairytale.

“So, you’re like, what, seventeen, eighteen?” I asked.

“Eighteen.”

I tried to mask my shock. Of course I’d known the Knights were teenagers. The first Knights had been Chosen four years ago, when they were sixteen. So by now, even the oldest Knights were at most twenty, hardly older than a teenager. And most of the Knights werestillteenagers. Simple math.

It was so easy to forget about simple math when hearing about all the heroic, magical things the Knights had done. Especially since no one ever saw them without their full armor on. No one ever saw the young faces of the planet’s heroes.

“You’re speechless,” Kato observed.

“No, as my friends like to say, there is no force in this world that can shut me up,” I laughed.

It was a forced laugh.

It was all starting to sink in now. Without that helmet distorting his voice to make it so deep and echoey, he sounded so normal. And without his helmet to cover his head, he looked so normal. Like he was more than just a nameless, faceless, super-scary Knight. Like he was a normal teenager, just like me.