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She shrugged. “Not always. But often. The first few weeks of the year are especially bad.”

“Why?”

“It’s when the naive new Apprentices come to town, acting all starstruck and distracted. You make for easy targets.”

“So you think those guys were here for us?”

Eris shrugged. “Perhaps.” She waved the other Apprentices over. “Let’s go.”

So we continued deeper into the mall, passing shops both interesting and bizarre. The magic bookstore, in particular, caught my eye. And so did the magic pet store, which was running a special on talking kittens. The cute little fluff balls had drawn the interest of most of my teammates too. Eris was trying to coax Bronte, Asher, and even Dutch away from the display window, but she wasn’t having much success. The kittens were way too cute.

“Oooh, look at that!”

Something else entirely had caught Kylie’s eye. Banners hung from the high ceiling, on either side of the passageway. Each banner featured a different Knight, and it cycled through a series of dramatic hero shots of that Knight.

“That’s him! The White Knight!” Kylie squealed, pointing at the banner of Kato. She’d stopped directly under it. “The Knight from the Garden yesterday!” She slanted a look my way. “Tell me all about him.”

“Uh, he’s pretty good at magic.”

“What happened when you two disappeared for a few seconds?”

How could she possibly know so much? She’d been on the complete opposite side of the Garden when Kato and I had disappeared into Shadow Fall.

“People talk,” she said, guessing my thoughts. “But apparently you don’t.” She frowned. “Come on, Savannah! Tell me everything! I heard he walked you home.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Alone.”

“It was no big deal.”

“No big deal?” she repeated, gasping. Her voice grew louder. People turned to stare at us. “No big deal? A Knight escorted you home, Savannah. That is a very big deal!”

I shrugged. “He was just being chivalrous. Knights are like that, you know.”

“Chivalrous.” Her knees seemed to melt as she said the word. She had to grip on to my arm to stay standing. “How romantic.” A calculating gleam lit up her eyes. “So, do you think he likes you? As inlikesyou?”

I snorted. “No.”

Her lips pinched together. “Why not?”

“Because he’s a Knight.”

“And what is a Knight? They might have all this magic, Savannah, but at their core, they’re human. They’re teenagers, just like us. And they have feelings, just like us,” Kylie pointed out.

“Ok, maybe, but that doesn’t mean helikesme,” I replied sensibly.

“Well, I’m going to pretend that he does. It makes for a better story.”

I laughed. “Ok, you do that.”

She batted her eyelashes at me. “So you don’t mind if I tell our teammates about your new boyfriend?”

My hands started to sweat. “Umm…”

“Kidding!” Kylie said lightly, winking.

“Funny,” I muttered. “You know, enduring your teasing feels an awful lot like surviving a heart attack.”

Kylie linked her arm in mine.

“What are you two gossiping about?” Bronte asked as she joined us.