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I flinched. “Ignore them. Right.” I focused on the path in front of us.

“You’re still looking at them.” He sounded amused. “You’re just doing it out of the corners of your eyes.”

I wiped my sweaty palms on my leggings. “It’s not so easy when thousands of people are staring at me.”

“You’ll get used it.” The soles of his boots clicked against the pavement. “When you’re a Knight.”

IfI ever got to be a Knight. As of this morning, I’d earned three hundred and ten points. And that wasafterGovernor’s Meyer’s gift of sixty points. The General really was doing everything he could to make sure I didn’t make the cut. Five hundred points felt further away than ever before.

“About all that…I wanted to thank you for what you did for me.” I stuttered a step. “Saving me from the General.”

“I’ve never heard of an Apprentice making such an impact on him before becoming a Knight.”

“Impact.” I let out a choked laugh. “That’s one way of wording it. Though I bet it’s not the word he would use.”

Unless he was referring to the impact crater an asteroid made against the perfect little world order he’d created.

“No, he would not,” Kato agreed. “But you shouldn’t allow other people’s shortcomings to stand in the way of your being the very best person you can be.”

“I’ll try my best.” I exhaled a little too loudly. “But the General can be so…”

“Cruel?”

Wow, had a Knight just criticized the General?

“Dealing with the General is complicated,” he said. “But don’t give up.”

“I’m not giving up. I just think he’s already made up his mind about me and doesn’t want to change it.”

“Because when you weren’t Chosen, you decided to take matters into your own hands?”

My cheeks warmed. “Heard about that, did you?”

“I’ve heard the gossip. The other Knights have been talking about you.”

Fantastic.

“Here we are,” Kato said.

We’d reached a small brick building off to the side of the Oval. Kato waved his armored wrist in front of a panel on the wall, and the door swung open.

“This way,” he told me.

I followed him into the building. The moment I was inside, the door swung shut with a resounding thump—and six pairs of eyes locked on to me. Those eyes belonged to the six teenagers, the six Knights, the six masters of magic who would be competing in today’s Tournament. They were also the Apprentices’ six mentors.

“Savannah Winters, allow me to introduce the Knights of Gaia.” Kato removed his helmet, and his voice lost its deep echo.

“Oh, we know all about Savannah Winters.”

One of the Knights—a boy with a piercing stare and big, bronze, muscular arms as thick as my thighs—jumped down from the windowsill he’d been perched on. He landed with inhuman grace, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that the windowsill was nearly at the ceiling.

“She’s pretty small to be causing the General so much grief. This girl survived Shadow Fall?” The Knight’s hazel eyes looked me up and down, and he scoffed in disbelief. His armor, gold in color, creaked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Surviving Shadow Fall is more about brains than brawn, Jareth,” said the Knight with messy black hair, the tips highlighted bright blue. He wore blue armor, and a small glass orb hung from a long, gold chain around his neck.

His muscles were leaner than those of his bulky companion, but he still had lots of them. In fact, all of the Knights in the room looked strong enough to hurl me clear across the Oval. And their Tournament armor was super cool—in a fear-me-I-am-freakishly-powerful kind of way.

Jareth slammed his fist into his open palm. He met the blue Knight’s gaze, and a slow, predatory smile curled his lips. “You’d be surprised how far brawn will get you, Orion. Especially in the Tournament.”