“If I didn’t have an excuse to hate that miserable wombat before, I sure do now. My parents died because of him, and he thanks them by working for their murderer. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“You weren’t ready.” The Kilodan gently took my face in his hands. “I feel your anger toward Mason. Do not let it misguide you. The only thing we know for certain is that Mason was a victim, just like you. Now, listen to me. We know that Nicolaitan has placed his apprentice in your school. What we do not know is why. But I fear the worst. You must learn quickly who he is and how he is connected to Mason. Your mission is more critical than we knew. There is only one way you could have absorbed a memory powerful enough to push itself into your head. You have been in contact with Nicolaitan himself.”
“But how?” Kathryn wasn’t totally off base, then. Mason was connected to Scallion, and Scallion was connected to my parents’ killer. My mission just took on a whole new urgency. Hopefully that included permission to engage in wombat pummeling. “Where do I start?”
“You have to get very close to Mason,” Andy said.
“I plan to,” I said, punching my fist into my palm.
“And when I say close, I do not mean beating him to death. You have to get into his head, and you have to do it without him knowing you’re in there. You can’t scan him, because if he is in contact with the Knights, they can scan him as well and may see you. Mason wouldn’t know that you are a Psi Fighter, but the Knight who scans him would.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?”
Andy grinned. “The way that women have gotten into men’s heads since the days of Adam and Eve. Let him take you on a date.”
I laughed. Only Andy would make such a stupid joke at such a critical time. “I know, right? Hey, Mason, ol’ buddy ol’ pal, wanna take in a movie? Seriously, what’s the best way to go? Okay, how about this? I’ll recon his house. Masked and armored of course, and I’ll stay in Shimmer mode. Sooner or later, he has to do something to reveal his mission. Right?”
Andy and the Kilodan stared silently. Andy’s face was totally blank.
“What? Am I missing something?” I looked back and forth between them. Andy slowly turned his palms up and got a slightly pained expression.
“No,” I said. “You have got to be kidding. You actually want me to ask Mason out?”
The Kilodan sighed and said, “I believe we have just witnessed a momentous occasion.”
Chapter Ten
Mission Undesirable
The next morning, I stood outside the chemistry lab wishing I’d been assigned something easy, like ending world hunger. I mean, it’s not like there’s not enough food on the planet. All I’d have to do is get people to share, and boom—no more world hunger.
But my mission was complicated. First, I had to suck up my disgust for Mason, which was considerable. Then, I had to trick him into taking me on a date. Finally, I’d have to actually show up for said date and not pound Mason’s head off the tabletop. The self-control requirements were borderline unreasonable.
However, I had a duty as a Psi Fighter to take advantage of any opportunity, no matter how loudly every ounce of me screamed against it. And, I must admit, Mason had already laid the groundwork for me. After all, he did threaten to ask me out the day he tried to give me a new hairdo. It definitely seemed like the most straightforward approach. But it was far from a perfect plan, because I saw two gaping holes in it. First, did Mason mean it? I mean, how embarrassing would it be if I told him I’d go, and he said, “Silly girl, did you honestly think I was serious?”
The second hole was deeper. And slightly more pathetic. How does a girl actually ask a boy to go out with her? Hey, big guy, wanna party? Okay, that would work for Angel, but she’s hot, and I’m me. Even if I figured that part out…once I got there, what would I do? I asked Kathryn for advice, but the best she could come up with was “Be yourself.” Right. Myself had zero dating experience.
Heck, I had zero experience with a real social life of any kind. The Academy had been my social life for as long as I could remember. I practiced with Andy every night after school. Even my weekends began with practice. Friday night Psi Weapons, followed by Saturday morning kung fu, followed by Saturday afternoon Mind Scanning. I spent Saturday evenings hanging out with Kathryn at the movies or the mall or wherever our mood took us. Sunday was church and homework. In this single aspect of my life, I was like every other teen I knew—totally booked. Only the details were different. When would I possibly squeeze in a date? No way I was giving up Saturday with Kathryn. A girl’s got to have her priorities.
Theoretically, since I had a mission, a Friday night date would count toward the assignment. I could skip out on Psi Weapons. On second thought, not a date. Hanging out. I knew how to do that. Oh, I was so out of my comfort zone.
“Hey,” a voice said.