Page 107 of The Knights of Gaia

My eyes bulged. “You want me to invite aKnightover here? Tomyhouse?”

“I think you want to.”

My whole face was scorching now. I buried it in my hands.

“Is it your mission in life to embarrass me?” I grumbled.

“Pretty much.” She patted me on the back. “That’s what best friends are for.”

When I stole a peek at her through my fingers, she was grinning. I was so glad I hadn’t told her that I’d seen Kato’s face. Then I never would have heard the end of it.

“Hey, can you stay here for a while?” I asked her. “It’s been a rough day, and I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“I’m always here for you, Savannah.” She wrapped her arm around me. “No matter what.”

“Thanks,” I said, resting my head on her shoulder.

Lightning flashed outside the windows, hot and bright. We waited, but no rain came, only thunder. The rumbling continued throughout dinner, which we ate together. It continued long after Nevada left. The dry lightning storm raged on all night, searing away the remnants of the day.

EPISODE 6

THE SABOTEUR

CHAPTER1

MAGIC PRACTICE

Asher scrutinized the pretty purple ribbon in his hands. “When I dreamt of being a Knight, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“You’re not a Knight yet,” I reminded him.

Sighing, he continued sorting through the box of satin-sheen, brightly-colored ribbons. There were stacks of boxes positioned all across the ballroom, like the towers of a castle.

“Still, being an Apprentice was supposed to be more glorious thanthis.” Dutch held up two tiny tea candles.

For once, I actually agreed with him. But I couldn’t afford to complain. I had exactly four hundred Merit points on the Scoreboard, which was at least a hundred fewer points than anyone else. And I had under twelve hours to crawl my way up to five hundred.

“This assignment might not be glorious, but it is absolutely critical to Gaia’s future,” said Ms. Featherdale.

In addition to being an Apprentice Program Manager, she was also the event planner for the upcoming Summit in the Magic Emporium. Today, my team was helping her set up the conference center that would host the event.

“She’s right,” Eris told us. “This Summit is the first—theonly—time Gaia has ever hosted the Many Realms Court. It’s our chance to prove to the other realms’ leaders that we should be admitted as a member of the Court.” She passed a box full of sparkly room decorations to Bronte, who looked more than happy to tackle the task of going through them.

Bronte wasn’t the sort to complain. She was the sort to get things done, no matter the task.

“When you’re finished organizing the ribbons, start hanging up the paper lanterns.” Ms. Featherdale set a box marked ‘lighting’ on the fold-out table in front of Asher.

Asher looked like he would rather eat the paper lanterns than do anything of the sort, but he simply nodded and got to work. And so did the rest of us. Getting the Emporium’s conference center ready for the upcoming Summit would take a lot of work.

“The members of the Court are very particular,” said Ms. Featherdale, “so make sure you follow all the instructions I’ve printed outto the letter.”

She was referring to the two-thousand-page bundle that she’d handed each of us when we’d entered the conference center this morning.

“You two, come with me.” Ms. Featherdale waved at me and Kylie, and we followed her across the ballroom, to the neighboring room.

The room was as ugly and plain as the ballroom was beautiful and opulent. Instead of glossy wood flooring and gold-trimmed arches, it had naked concrete walls and a rusted, lopsided metal drain in the center of the floor.

“Over here.” Ms. Featherdale pointed at the big bathtub next to the drain.

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