“I did something stupid that linked me to the Psi Fighters. I don’t remember what, but I was always practicing when I was little. If I had just been more careful, they’d be alive today.”
“Is that what you think? Honey, your parents didn’t die because of anything you did.” His voice shook, even through the mask’s electronic modifiers. At first, I thought he was angry. But then I noticed the way he held his head. He seemed to be fighting tears. For the first time in my life, I wondered if the Kilodan might actually be human.
“Yeah. They did.”
“Your parents saved a little boy. It was completely accidental. By that time, the town was in terror, and the Knights had become very bold. A Knight pulled the boy off the street right in front of them, in broad daylight.”
Hmm. This was news. “My mom and dad weren’t masked, were they?”
“There was no time.”
“Why would they do that?” I asked. “Isn’t our first priority to protect our identity?”
“Our first priority is to protect the innocent.”
“Okay. So they saved the boy, captured the Knight…and?”
The Kilodan glanced away. “The Knight escaped. He recognized their Mental Arts skills, and knew they were Psi Fighters. You were kidnapped the next day. They received a ransom note saying he wanted to trade you for the boy they rescued, that you could be found in Dead End Alley. Your parents knew it was a trap, but went anyway.”
By now, tears were streaming down my face. “Why? Why would they risk their lives like that?”
“You were more important to them than their secret identities. Or ours. We don’t consider risk when someone we love is in danger.”
“What happened to the Knight?”
The Kilodan inhaled sharply, and I instantly felt his rage bounce off me, like the searing summer heat rebounding off asphalt. Just as quickly, it was gone.
“He was extremely powerful,” Andy said. “We know now it was Nicolaitan. Nobody else could have escaped both of them. And it seems that he has resurfaced.”
“Nicolaitan?” I looked back and forth between Andy and the Kilodan. “The leader of the Walpurgis Knights? He’s the one with the skull mask? He killed my parents? And he’s back?”
“Yes,” Andy whispered.
“You knew?” I was suddenly livid. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Andy’s eyes narrowed. “We weren’t certain that he was back until you saw the skull mask in Elmo’s memory. And I didn’t tell you Nicolaitan murdered your parents because—”
“You want me to find him,” I said. “I’m on it.”
“Because I knew you’d say that,” Andy said.
“No, we do not!” The Kilodan pointed a gloved finger at Andy. “See, I told you this would happen.”
“Look, Big K,” Andy began. “I—”
“Big K? What am I, a bowl of cereal?”
Andy bowed deeply, and spoke in Darth Vader’s voice. “Forgive me, my master.”
The Kilodan turned to me as if to say, Forget you saw that. Then he let out a long, electronically altered sigh that sounded like a deflating whoopee cushion, and became his emotionless old self again. “Andor is the reason I asked you to get involved at your school. He believes you are ready. I, however, do not.”
I glanced at Andy and was suddenly filled with affection. Andy believed in me. Andy stood up for me. Andy supported—“What do you mean, you ‘do not’?” I said, spinning toward the Kilodan.
“You are headstrong and impulsive.”
“And?”
The Kilodan slowly placed both fists on his hips. “I do not believe you are ready to do battle with a Walpurgis Knight.”
“Who said anything about fighting a Knight? I thought I’d just have to find Nicolaitan, and you’d take it from there.”
“It is not possible to simply find a Walpurgis Knight. Once he or she has been found, you will be drawn into battle whether you want to or not. Especially when the Knight is Nicolaitan.”
I was suddenly very uneasy. “Okay, I’ll stick to Mason. He’s our key to finding the skull guy and Mr. Smelly, right?”
“The man who wears the skull mask is closer than we originally thought,” the Kilodan said. “We believe that Nicolaitan has placed an apprentice in your school.”
My jaw nearly bounced off the floor. No words came to me. No arguments. No witty comebacks. How was this possible? “One of my teachers is a Knight?”
“Or a student.”
“One of her teachers is a student?” Andy slapped his palms to his cheeks.
I smacked him. “This is serious!”
“The man in the skull mask knows too many details about your school. He knows when the children are vulnerable. He has to be an insider. And he is sloppy, so I feel he is inexperienced. A mature Knight would never have been seen by Munificent, or anyone else. I believe that the apprentice is the man Police Chief Munificent saw. As much as I hate the thought, you are our best hope for finding the man in the skull mask.”
“So, are you saying the man in the skull mask is, or is not, Nicolaitan?”
“Yes to both,” the Kilodan said.