The Paladin Prophecy

#8: ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO IMPROVISE.

Will climbed one of the ladders to the second floor. Boats and gear filled most of the space. A windowed door led to a small office tucked against the right wall. Straight ahead, an interior staircase led up from the front doors to a landing, then turned and continued to the third floor. The Pigtailed Girl and Pirate who’d been stationed outside hurried in; they spotted Will as they headed up the stairs.

“You heard him,” said the Pirate to Will. “Move your ass.”

Will fell in behind them. His peripheral vision halved by the edges of the mask, he followed them up a flight of narrow unfinished stairs toward what looked like an attic. They passed through a narrow door at the top of the stairs into a cramped landing. Through an open door ahead, Will caught a glimpse of the dark room they’d seen in the video feed.

“What’s going on?” he heard Brooke say from inside the room.

Behind him, Will heard the Paladin’s voice, buzzed flat by the electronic filter. “Padraig?”

A moment ago he’d heard Nick say that the Paladin had just left the Barn. But this was the Paladin’s voice behind him.

“Padraig!”

Then he realized Padraig must be the Ghost’s Knights of Charlemagne name.

Will turned, trying to make it seem as if he was responding to the name.

The masked Paladin stood five feet behind him—Nick must have been wrong; he couldn’t possibly have gotten here this fast—pointing something at Will.

Unless there was more than one of them—

Will heard a whirring sound as the Paladin fired a Taser. Three darts smacked into Will’s chest, and a searing jolt shot through his body as he fell to the floor.

The last thing he saw was the Paladin lifting a black carbon-fiber container about the size of a thermos.

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