Free The Legend Thief by Unknown Page B

"You'll grow up with my son and the others."
     
    "Your son?" Sky backed away, utterly creped out. "Who's your son?"
     
    The janitor turned to look at him. "We'll teach you how a hunter should act. All of us, we'll start aga -"
     
    The janitor suddenly stopped and stared at nothing.
     
    A chill shot down Sky's spine. He'd heard these words before . . . last year while edgewalking through the memory of when he was a baby. They were the words spoken in the library the night the hunters captured Solomon Rose, whom they believed then, and believed still, to be the Arkhon.
     
    A man had held Sky in his arms and spoken those very words to him, promising something he could never deliver, promising Sky safety. The man had cut down a ring of monsters around the pendulum before fighting the Shadow Man, the one who could slip through shadows, the one who'd turned Sky and Errand into Changelings that very night.
     
    Sky's great protector had fallen while defending him. White light, like a physical thing, had whipped out of the Hunter's Mark during the Changing and plunged through the monocle, into his protector's eye.
     
    Sky stared at the janitor and imagined him dean-shaven, with cropped hair, a long black trench coat covering slacks and a dress shirt, and a thick white monocle on his eye. His great protector, the one who'd given up so much for him, had been right in front of him the whole time, and Sky had never spared him a second look.
     
    "You're Nikola," Sky said, bewildered, the puzzle pieces snapping into place. "You're the hunter who built the Arkhon's prison with Phineas. You protected me."
     
    Nikola glanced back at Sky, looking past him rather than at him.
     
    "They'll never find it that way," Nikola muttered, dumping out his Doritos and putting the bag over his head. 'The coffin is empty."
     
    "What?" Sky glanced over his shoulder, but once again there was nothing there save Fog and forest.
     
    Nikola dropped the picture and picked up his picnic blanket. ''Why do the good ones always die? You'd better hurry if you want to save her."
     
    "Save who?" Sky asked.
     
    Muttering to himself about nacho cheese, urinal cakes, and glowing saltines, Nikola spun and walked away, disappearing into the Fog. Sky picked up the picture and raced after him.
     
    "Wait! Who is this? Who's your son?" Sky yelled.
     
    But Nikola - the Genius, the Protector, the Mad Janitor of Exile - was gone.
     

 
     

     

Chapter 7: Grove of the Fallen
    The wind dragged the Fog through the forest, thinning it and spreading it out for miles around. From the growth of moss on the trees, Sky knew he was heading north. He'd contemplated circling back to follow the trail of wax and feathers and, presumably, the shooter, Fred, and the Marrowick, but he'd given up the idea, fearing that the Darkhorn might have the same thought.
     
    Besides, an injured hunter hid somewhere to the north, judging by the trail of blood. This hunter and the other- the shooter-hadn't tried to kill him or they'd both be at Arkhon Academy right now getting treated for Bolger venom. They'd defied Morton's orders. That meant one or both might be potential allies against Morton, should Sky's plan fail, and against Bedlam. Or, they might just kill him while trying to kill each other. Either way, they were up here for some reason, and he meant to find out why and how Fred and the Marrowick were tied up in all this.
     
    Still troubled by Nikola but not sure what to do about it, Sky closed himself off completely to the Piebalds to prevent the Darkhorn and Bedlam from tracking him so easily. He left the swamps behind, moving deeper into the unknown. Without the Piebalds guiding him, he felt exposed and traveled more slowly than he liked, fearing what he'd encounter. Here, the forest thinned and the ancient trees grew taller and broader and somehow more disturbing-the angles wrong, bent and twisted.
     
    Following the trail of blood, he circled around a massive hole that seemed to