Page 40 of Knox

"It’s an event where fans of books, movies, and other media gather," Adrian explained quickly. "People dress up as their favorite characters, attend panels, meet authors… It’s like a big celebration for fans."

Lyrian’s eyes lit up with interest. "Sounds like my kind of party."

"Sounds like the kind of party we need to crash," Zev corrected. "We need to stop Caelen before he can cause more harm."

Lyrian nodded in agreement. "And perhaps use this ‘convention’ to our advantage. If he’s drawing power from admiration and belief, we need to turn that against him."

"We need to remind everyone who the real hero of the story is," Adrian agreed, glancing at Knox. "When people see the two of you side by side, they should realize."

"I’m no hero," Knox said.

"You’re better than Caelen, anyway."

Evelyn fixed Adrian with a look. "Are you sure you want to go to a convention in Greenwood, dear?"

Adrian understood his grandmother’s concerns, but this was more important than his personal drama. "I’ll be fine," he brushed her off. Adrian’s brother lived in Greenwood, yes, but surely he wouldn’t be at the convention. Grant had never had any interest inMonsters of Veridia.

"I’ll buy us tickets for the convention," Adrian decided, "and then I’ll announce on the web that we’ll be there, and then…" He took a deep breath. "Then I’ll explain to all of you what the web is and what to do at a convention."

"That sounds like it’ll require coffee," Evelyn said. "I’ll put some on."

"Thank you, Grandma." Adrian pulled out his phone and navigated to the convention website. It took him a little while because the servers kept crashing, but in the end, he managed to purchase four tickets, wincing at the exorbitant total.

A lot of people wanted to go to that convention suddenly.

"Okay, tickets are bought," he announced. "Now we need to talk."

The others gathered around him, looking at him expectantly.

"Alright, so…" Adrian began, trying to figure out the best way to explain this. "Everyone at the convention tomorrow… They’ve all read your story."

Lyrian’s brow furrowed. "But if they’ve read about us, shouldn’t they know how awesome we are? Why do they side with Caelen? They know what he’s done. It’s all right there in the recordings, yes?"

"Because he’s hot," Zev said, his tone dry.

Adrian wished he could deny the truth in Zev’s words, but he couldn’t. People really were that simple-minded.

"He showed himself as a savior," Adrian added, "and they want to believe him."

Knox’s jaw tightened. "The more people love him, the stronger he will get."

"We’ll make them love you instead," Adrian countered, meeting Knox’s gaze.

Evelyn chose that moment to set the coffee on the table before them.

"What is this delightful aroma?" Lyrian asked, sniffing the air cautiously.

"Coffee," Evelyn replied. "People like to drink it to stay alert. You should try it with some sugar if you’ve never had it."

Adrian winced as he watched Lyrian add a truly egregious amount of sugar to his coffee. "Not that much!"

Lyrian glanced at him, took a sip of his coffee and swallowed it down. "I happen to like sugar." He drank down the rest of his coffee just like that, and then he turned to Evelyn with the sweetest smile. "Do you mind if I take some?" he asked, and before Evelyn could respond, a good amount of sugar cubes disappeared into Lyrian’s pocket.

Vaguely, Adrian remembered that the siren had a habit of finding little keepsakes to take with him from any place he visited once.

Did sugar count as a keepsake?

Adrian shook his head. He’d never known that Lyrian had a sweet tooth, even though he’d read his story a hundred times.