Page 25 of The Knights of Gaia

Unfortunately, I didn’t know any teleportation spells.

Fortunately, though, I didn’t see any Cursed Ones, not even the one who’d dragged me into the magic light.

I was alone.

The fog rumbled with a deep, beastly roar, as though to prove me wrong. But that noise hadn’t come from the Cursed Ones. They shrieked; they didn’t roar. This was something else entirely.

Like someone skipping a stone on a lake’s surface, the fog in front of me started to swirl, kicking a bit of chaos into the quiet. And then something emerged from the milky-white mist.

It looked like a tiger—if tigers had large, bird-like wings and flames on the tips of their tails. Those same flames crested the beast’s spine like a fiery mohawk. Even the unicorn-like horn on its head was on fire.

The tiger sauntered forward with slinky grace, its gold eyes locked on to me. Then its mouth parted, and it flashed me a fierce smile. Its teeth were as sharp as daggers—and they were, quite literally, on fire.

I backed up a step. “Good kitty,” I said, in what I hoped was a soothing voice.

The tiger lifted a paw as large as my head and swiped it at my face.

I stumbled away from it. “Bad kitty!” I slid my backpack off my shoulders and swung it at the beast.

It evaded nimbly, then stalked toward me, mirroring my every move. Its fiery tail swiped back and forth with agitated energy. Tension was building up throughout its muscular body. It was preparing to pounce. I’d encountered enough cats to know that.

But this wasn’t some benign house cat. It was the most terrifying tiger I’d ever seen. And when it pounced at me, the whole world shrank to the gigantic, flaming predator that fully intended to kill me.

Something big and white swept in front of me. There was a screech of claws scraping against metal, and then an angry roar.

I took a step back from the white wall—and realized it was the same Knight from the Garden. I recognized the many distinct medals on his chest armor.

The Knight faced the beast again, his hands gripping a very large sword. He lunged forward with his weapon, forcing the tiger back one step at a time—until finally the beast turned and disappeared back through the curtain of fog.

The Knight turned to face me. “You are not a warrior.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of his statement, so I just said, “Definitely not.”

“Then why did you try to fight the fire tiger?”

“It’s called a fire tiger?” I choked out.

He ignored my question. “And back in the Garden, you rantowardthe Cursed Ones, like you wanted to fight them.” His voice was so deep and echoey beneath his helmet.

I wasn’t sure what to say. My mind was too busy looping the fact that the Cursed Ones had invaded Bayshore yesterday and the Fortress today. Cursed One incursions into civilization were very uncommon nowadays, almost unheard of. And now there had been two in two days. No, many more, according to the invisible stranger. All of these incidents had to be connected. But how?

“Well?” the Knight said with obvious impatience. “Why did you try to attack the Cursed Ones?”

I shrugged, hoping I looked calmer than I felt. “Isn’t that kind of my job now? Protecting humanity, fighting the Curse, and all that jazz?”

“You are not a Knight yet. You are just an Apprentice.” The Knight was so still, I wondered if he was even breathing under all that armor. “You know nothing about fighting the Cursed Ones.”

“Well, I wouldn’t saynothing,” I replied. “I’ve read tons of books about them.”

“Books?”

The word was sharper than a question; it sounded more like an accusation.

“Yes, books.” I set my hands on my hips. “Such as the Handbook.”

“The Handbook explains to humans how to get away from the Cursed Ones, not how to fight them. Only Knights should fight the Cursed Ones.”

“Unfortunately, you weren’t there when the Cursed Ones first barged into the Garden in search of victims,” I said. “Someone had to deal with them before they started biting people.”

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