“My Mom and Dad were Knights.” Gordy growled with a harsh rebuttal. He sat up and looked Pendleson in the eye. “I should be a Knight too. I should be just like them.”

“They...Gordy...they wouldn't have wanted you to be a Knight.”

“You don't really know because they're dead.” Gordy barked, scratching his button nose, a delicate feature from his mother. “Why can't I be a Knight if I'm just going to die anyways?” He twisted in his seat, a disservice to the fine scarlet chair.

Gordy never cried much, but he was sulky; the boy jutted his chin farther out than his nose with a sigh fit for a steam engine. The room they were in was enough to fit a piano, a harp, and a coffee table with plenty of space to mingle, but with the firelight just touching their two chairs, Pendleson couldn't shake the feeling it was starting to get claustrophobic next to Gordy's ego.

But, it would break Gordy's heart to hear that he wasn't anything like his parents. Richard and Vidalia Harrison were a force of nature that sent fear down the spine of everyone near the Brim. The only thing Gordy could strike with fear within, was a pair of scissors, and the only reason why they let the mop run loose around his ears.

“That puts you in too much danger, Gordy.” Pendleson told him firmly. “You attract those dangers already without being a Knight against the Brim. They sense you from miles away!”

“C'mon!” Gordy said, pulling this hood across his bangs. “There's a big world out there full of Knights, right?”

“No. We're a secret, Gordy.” Pendleson muttered. “And there aren't a lot of us. You're very lucky that your here. Extremely lucky.” He looked back at the old room filled to the brim with expensive finery that on their own could buy them a whole new apartment. Gordy looked at the same finery and only saw boring old chairs.

“Those other Knights are all alive, even though you say that Willt's pulled demons and things from the Brim to hunt them down. Besides, I don't think that anything demon-like ever comes around here.” The boy answered earnestly, having thought deeply about about the loophole for quite some time. “I've even checked the Internet!”

“Because you're in Fairfield, Connecticut, Gordy!” Pendleson growled, “Once you leave it, you will see.”

“I'm 14; I'm going to have to leave some time! Can't I go along with you guys?”

“No, Gordy. No. And stop influencing Fred.” Pendleson said harshly, waving a thin finger at Gordy's nose.

“It wasn't Fred's idea, Master Pendleson!”

“I don't care. I'll bring that boy back to a Page after what's happened tonight. I can deal with Fred being a jerk to his teachers, but when it's getting you both killed, well, that is just plain out of line!” Gordy's hood fell down his back as he shot from his seat. With a cold hand he pulled the hair out of his face where opaque shadows gathered under his eyes.

“Seriously, it was all me! Not Fred at all—not Fred at all! Don't hurt Fred!”

“It's about loyalty, Harrison.” Pendleson argued, scratching his silky chair. “We are trying to accomplish a great work, an impossible work; We're trying to close the Brim forever. We need loyalty—absolute and complete devotion. While Fred may be talented, I need to trust him if he wants to be part of my circle like his forefathers.”

Gordy's features stiffened at the thought.

“So I can't join because you don't think I'm loyal?” Gordy asked after a long moment.