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“How angry do you think he is?” I asked her as we descended the tower’s spiral staircase.

“The General? Pretty angry.” She winked at me. “He doesn’t like to be reminded that he isn’t in charge of the universe.”

“Well, thanks for standing up for me.”

“Of course I stood up for you. You didn’t do anything wrong. Besides, someone has to look out for you. You’re on the General’s naughty list, you know. He thinks you’re the personification of anarchy.”

“Maybe I am.”

“No, you’re not,” she told me. “The General is just paranoid. He sees enemies everywhere.”

“I guess that’s because it’s his job to see enemies everywhere.”

She cracked a smile. “It certainly isn’t his job to make friends.”

“I also kind of suspect he hates children.”

“Hedefinitelyhates children,” she told me. “Especially teenagers. And most especially teenagers with magic.”

“And yet he’s in charge of the Knights, an army of magic-wielding teenagers,” I pointed out.

“The Government believes the Knights need a firm hand guiding them.”

“But you don’t agree.” The look in her eyes told me that.

“The General is still stuck in the past,” she replied. “He’s still living the glory days when our world was the only fish in the pond. Well, the pond has gotten a lot bigger, and there are a lot more fish. The people of Gaia need to build our place in the Many Realms. And to do that, we must all evolve to face the reality of today, not dwell on the dreams of yesterday. Sometimes, the General needs a little reminder of that, and I’m more than happy to oblige.”

We’d reached the bottom of the staircase.

“Well, thanks again for helping me out,” I told her. “And for the points.”

“Thank Kato. This was his idea.”

“Kato?” I gasped.

“He warned me that the General is on a mission to get you thrown out of the Apprentice Program. Kato is away from the Fortress at the moment, so he asked me to help keep you safe until he got back.”

“I…I had no idea Kato cared so much about me,” I said quietly.

Those sixty Merit points were a total lifesaver. They’d help me keep my head above water—well, at least until the next time the General struck.

“Yes, Kato has taken quite a liking to you. Curious. He doesn’t usually bother with Apprentices.” She gave me a long, assessing look. “You must have done something to impress him. After the attack on the Garden, the General cooked up some convoluted scheme to blame you for it. And after what happened in yesterday’s Discovery Quest, he wanted to kick you out of the Program entirely. Kato intervened to protect you from him.”

“How?” I gasped. I was still trying to get my head around the idea that Kato was my guardian angel.

“Kato can be very persuasive.”

Well, that explained why I hadn’t lost more points yesterday. Kato had protected me.

Governor Meyer clasped my hands in hers. “But he won’t always be around to shield you from the wrath of the Iron Wolf. And neither will I. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to figure out how to deal with the General on your own.”

Deal with the General? Negotiating with a fire tiger sounded easier. But she was right. It was something I’d have to figure out. I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to make the cut. And even after that, even if I became a Knight, I’d still have to deal with the General. He was in command of the Castle and all the Knights who lived there.

“Good luck,” Governor Meyer told me before she walked off down the hall.

I was so full of thoughts and emotions, and most of them were tangled up around Kato.

I was grateful to him for looking out for me.