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It took me a moment to realize he’d spoken that last word out loud. And that he’d directed it to the encroaching crowd, not to me. Everyone fell silent and backed up.

“You all have a lot to learn before you become Knights.” Disapproval dripped from Kato’s words, thick and heavy. “A Knight does not flee from danger like a scared little dormouse. A Knight protects the weak and vulnerable. Something you all failed to do when the Cursed Ones attacked these humans.”

“So this was a test?” one of the Apprentices muttered.

“No, this is the life of a Knight,” Kato told him, then he turned to the Apprentices’ family members. “Line up single-file in front of the gate. The soldiers will examine each of you on your way out, to make sure you haven’t been Cursed.”

Slowly, the humans headed toward the trio of Watchers in black, who stood on the other side of the closed gate.

“Apprentices, assist the soldiers,” Kato said.

I moved to follow the other Apprentices toward the gate.

“No, not you,” Kato told me sharply, in a tone so unlike the kind one he’d used in my mind just seconds ago. “You will come with me.”

Somewhere in the crowd of Apprentices gathered at the gate, someone laughed. It was a girl with sleek black hair and bright green eyes. She might have been pretty—if not for her cruel smile and permanently upturned nose. I knew her type. She was the sort of person who thought she was better than everyone and took pleasure in the suffering of others. Why would the Government pick someone like that to be a Knight? Knights were supposed to be chivalrous and kind.

When Kato moved toward her, the crowd parted to make way. “Apprentice, what is your name?”

The smile died on her lips. “Zoe,” she choked out.

“And why did you laugh just now, Zoe?”

“I…”

“Was there something particularly funny about four Cursed Ones attacking all these people?”

Zoe’s face turned a very lovely shade of green.

“Your screaming and panicking enraged the Cursed Ones and made my job harder. And instead of protecting people, you tried to save yourself by shoving them at the Cursed Ones,” Kato told her and gave his armored hand a dismissive flick. “Now get to work assisting the soldiers.”

Zoe quietly folded herself into the crowd of Apprentices.

“And pray that your selfishness didn’t cost anyone their life,” Kato added.

My heart pinched. I hoped Mom was ok. I mean, I was pretty sure she was. Mom knew better than to panic when the Cursed Ones attacked.

“Let’s go,” Kato told me.

He led me right past the crowd at the gate. Some of the Apprentices we passed looked at me with pity, others with envy. I got the feeling that at least half of them thought I was in even bigger trouble than Zoe, that Kato was hauling me away in order to punish me.

CHAPTER8

THE APPRENTICE VILLAGE

Kato and I walked through the small opening in the Garden’s gate—and right past the gadget-wielding Watchers standing there. The Apprentices brought the grownups forward, one-by-one, presenting them to the Watchers. An instant blood test would tell them if anyone was Cursed.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked Kato after we passed through the Black Obelisk’s checkpoint and entered the Interchange.

“I’m taking you home.”

Home. For a moment I thought he meant Bayshore, but that was just the exhaustion talking.

“You’ve had a long day,” he said.

We were on the train platform now. A train slid to a smooth stop in front of us. The doors whooshed open, and I followed him inside.

“I don’t know where I’m staying. They didn’t get around to telling us that yet,” I said as the train started moving again.