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“I don’t have any siblings. Or even parents.”

“You’re an orphan?”

There were a lot of orphans nowadays. Too many. The Curse had claimed many lives. And it had broken up so many families.

I reached out my hand to give Kato’s shoulder a friendly squeeze, but dropped it to my side when I remembered who he was.Whathe was. Despite our little adventure together in Shadow Fall, he was still a Knight. And Knights didn’t make friends with lowly Apprentices.

Well, I guess I couldn’t have squeezed him through all that armor anyway.

“I’m sorry about your family,” I told him.

“Don’t be. The Knights are my family. And they can be yours too.”

“I’ve always thought of the Knights as a powerful army, not as one big happy family.”

“Who says we can’t be both?” said Kato.

We fell into silence as we passed through the gates into the Killfield district. The road was lined with tall, thick trees. The shade was a sweet relief from the scorching summer heat. The Australian sun seemed to have a talent for making everything feel ten degrees hotter than it really was. Or maybe my body was still stuck back in winter.

I glanced off to the side of the road, where a team of adults and older teenagers had gathered at the forest’s edge. They were dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, the kind of outfit that prison crews used to wear. Or so I’d read in books.

I wasn’t sure what prisoners wore nowadays. I’d never seen a prisoner. If anyone, child or adult, misbehaved badly enough, the Government exiled you beyond the town walls. And no one ever saw you again.

The orange jumpsuits meant those people off to the side of the road were Cutters. The Cutters fought a never-ending battle against nature. Their tools were simple shovels and scissors and saws. They weren’t allowed to use pesticides. Humanity had learned our lesson the hard way that pumping the planet full of poison only made nature fight back harder.

The Cutters watched us with wide eyes. A few of them talked in hushed, hurried whispers. Knights didn’t take evening strolls with Apprentices, so the sight of me walking side-by-side with one of the planet’s heroes must have come as quite a shock to them. My torn and dirty clothes probably didn’t help either.

“I like talking to you,” Kato said quietly, once we’d passed out of the Cutters’ sight.

“That’s definitely several steps up from where we started today.” I threw him a sidelong smile. “When you scolded me.”

“You aren’t like anyone else I know,” he said. “When I talk to you, it’s like you’re a real person. And it’s like I’m a real person too.”

“So you don’t feel like a real person the rest of the time?”

“No. Not really,” he admitted. “My life is very different the rest of the time. It’s all about responsibility. Perfection. Destiny.”

“It sounds like you have a lot on your plate.”

“I do.”

“And yet you took a break from responsibility and evendestinyto walk me home.”

“You’re someone worth knowing.”

“Thanks. That means a lot to me.” I sidestepped a eucalyptus branch that had fallen onto the road; it was at least as tall as I was. “Kato?”

“Yes?”

“Why do the Cursed Ones freeze when they see me? You said you’ve never seen them do that before. So I’m wondering, why are they so afraid of me? What’s wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Seven. There’s somethingrightwith you. You have a gift. Embrace it.”

“A gift?” I chewed his words over. “But what kind of magic is this gift?”

“I believe it’s fear magic.”

“Fear magic?” I asked. “The power to make people afraid?”