RESCHEDULED

Ernie managed to ignore the other three Grey Griffins for the entire morning, despite sharing three classes together. Max tried to make eye contact with him, but every time he did, Ernie turned the other way.

“Don’t forget to save a chair for Ernie,” Max said as the Griffins sat down at their usual table in the dining hall.

“Why?” Harley asked. “He’s sitting over there with the Toad brothers.”

Max turned to see Ernie and the Toad brothers talking, laughing, and eating in the back of the room. He shook his head before slumping into his chair. It hurt to be rejected—especially by one of his best friends.

“I’m telling you,” Harley said between mouthfuls of stuffing with cranberries, “you have to let it go.”

“He’s right,” Natalia said. “If Ernie wants to be a jerk, that’s his problem. But you can’t let it get to you like this.”

Max swirled his mashed potatoes with his fork. “I know. It’s just that I keep thinking Ernie was right about Robert. Maybe I should have done something.”

“Like what?” Harley said. “You were following orders. Period.”

“I guess.”

“Are you going to eat that?” Harley asked. He was pointing at a dinner roll.

“You can have it,” Max said.

“Thanks.” Harley ripped it open and slathered it with butter before stuffing half of it into his mouth. He washed it down with an entire glass of milk.

“Do you even taste your food when you eat like that?” Natalia asked.

Harley belched.

“You realize that you’re supposed to behave like a gentleman,” Natalia said, though it didn’t seem to have much effect. Harley continued to inhale his food. When he was finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

As Natalia sat there looking disgusted, Max found himself smiling for the first time all day. The Griffins were more like siblings than friends. Bickering came as naturally as breathing.

Max did his best not to look at Ernie for the rest of the lunch hour. Instead, he enjoyed his meal and talked about past adventures with Harley and Natalia.

“Are you finished with that, sir?”

Max turned to see a clockwork that looked like a trash can on treaded wheels.

“Yeah, thanks,” Max said.

“Very good.” The clockwork took his plate. A compartment opened up from its chest, and the clockwork scraped the food off the plate before sliding it into a rack. Then it pulled out what looked like a miniature ruler to scrape the crumbs from the tablecloth.

Max looked over his shoulder to find Ernie deep in conversation with the Toad brothers. It looked like Ernie was holding an invitation to the new class, just like the one Max had received over the weekend.

“Max, did you hear what I just said?” Natalia asked.

He turned back around. “Sorry… what was that?”

“We were thinking about going to the Spider’s Web on Wednesday,” Natalia said. “Do you want to come?”

“Yeah, sure.” It had been a while since they had gone to the comic shop, and it sounded like a good diversion.

The bell rang, announcing that lunch was over. Max was about to reach for his backpack when he found the Toad brothers standing in front of him, smiling.

“What’s going on?” Max asked.

“Did you hear the news?” Todd said.

“You know, about the Round Table tournament?” Ross said.

“Not yet.” Max stood up and tried to slip past them to head toward the exit.

Todd and Ross followed.

“We were worried that it was going to be canceled, but it’s back on,” Todd said.

“That’s great.”

“The tournament is going to pick up right where it left off,” Ross said. “Except it’s not going to be open to the public.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be in a secret location,” Todd said. “You still have your Toad Report on Mendez, right?”

Max shrugged. “It’s somewhere.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ross said. “We can get you another copy.”

“You realize how historic this is, right?” Todd said.

“Not really.”

Todd and Ross looked at each other with raised eyebrows before turning back to Max.

“This is a really big deal, Max,” Ross said. “You could be one of the youngest duelists in the history of the Templar academies.”

“Do you know what that’s going to mean for our business?” Todd said.

“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me,” Max said.

“Remember how we made our deal, right?” Todd said. “We gave you free Toad Reports for the entire tournament, and you agreed to be a spokesperson for our brand.”

Max closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“We’re ready to expand into the professional tournaments,” Ross said. “With your endorsement, Toad Brothers, Incorporated, is going to become the most powerful company in the gaming industry.”

“Look, guys, I have a lot on my mind right now.”

“We know,” Todd said. “That’s why we arranged a practice duel for you.”

“Let me guess. Xander?” Max asked. After all, Xander Swift was the undisputed amateur Round Table champion in the world, and for some reason, the Toad brothers were dying to turn Max and Xander into rivals.

“Actually, we had someone else in mind,” Todd said. He looked at Ross from the corner of his eye.

“Don’t get us wrong,” Ross said. “We can’t wait to see you go head-to-head with Xander, but if you’re going to prep for your Round Table duel against Catalina, you need someone who plays like her.”

“Yeah, and somebody who looks like her, too,” Todd said.

The brothers started laughing, but Max frowned. He wasn’t sure he still wanted to play in the tournament after what had happened to Robert Hernandez. The Toad brothers’ annoying game of guess-who wasn’t helping.

“Are you going to tell me who it is?”

“Don’t make us ruin the surprise,” Ross said.

“This is stupid,” Max said.

“You don’t get it,” Todd said, “but you will. Round Table is going to put you on the map.”

“Yeah,” Ross agreed. “So are you going to show up?”

Max sighed before shaking his head. The Toad brothers thought they were applying pressure with their comments, but they weren’t. Max didn’t care if he was on the map or not. Still, he committed to being in the tournament, and he was going to see it through, even if he was having doubts about continuing. He figured practice would do him some good. Still, Max didn’t want the Toad brothers to think that they had won. “I’ll think about it,” he finally said.