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“That will not be a problem. I can look that up.” He removed a coin-sized disc from his armor, and it transformed into a phone.

I gaped at him. “That’s a neat trick.”

“Indeed.” He waved his hand over the phone, not even touching the screen. Somehow, the text scrolled anyway. “Ok, I’ve found your accommodation. I will escort you there.”

We took the train to ‘the Castle’ station. It was only four stops from the Interchange, but that was long enough for me to get used to the gentle air conditioning inside the train—and notice how hot it was outside when we exited.

“Come on. This way.” Kato led me out of the station and to the street beyond.

We walked side-by-side for a while without saying a thing, until a shrill call sliced through the silence. I jumped in alarm.

“Don’t worry. It’s not monsters this time,” he told me. “It’s just a kookaburra.”

“Wait, are you telling me that sound came from abird?”

He shrugged his armored shoulders. “You’ll get used to it.”

The kookaburra called out again. Its monkey-like cry echoed through the nearby forest.

“It looks like I’ll have to get used to a lot of things,” I commented as an abnormally-large wild turkey darted across the road.

“Just watch out for the drop bears. Especially when you’re walking through the woods. They like to drop on top of unsuspecting Apprentices.”

I gawked at him.

“Just kidding. That one is just a myth.”

“Any chance the poisonous spiders are a myth too?” I asked.

“No.”

I shivered. “Fantastic.”

“You charge into danger when the Cursed Ones attack, and yet you’re afraid of tiny spiders?”

“Yes.”

A snort echoed through his helmet. “You are a very strange girl.”

“I know.”

“Maybe that’s why you didn’t run and scream when the Cursed Ones attacked the Garden.”

“Because I’m strange?”

“No, because you see the world differently than most people do.”

He gave my back a good, strong pat—which hurt, but it also felt good. Because it made me feel like he believed in me. AKnightbelieved in me. That had to count for something.

“I hope the Program Managers appreciate my differentness as much as you do,” I said quietly. “Dante always warns me about being too weird for boring, normal people.”

“Dante?”

“My twin brother. He’s one of the other Apprentices. Not one of the ones who panicked in the Garden,” I added quickly.

But Kato obviously had something other than the Garden on his mind right now. “That must be nice. Having a brother.”

“Sometimes. When he’s not annoying me,” I said.