Rachel Hawkins - Demonglass

Or maybe I was just using up all the horrible now. Maybe the next eighty years would be full of nothing but Yahtzee and collecting various cats. That might be nice.

The knock sounded again, and I realized it wasn’t my door, but Cal’s down the hall. I sunk back to my pillow. Would I be next, or would they take Archer first?

Or maybe they’d already taken Archer.

I shook that thought away and got cleaned up and dressed. My clothes from last night still lay on the floor in a stiff heap, and I shuddered as I tossed them into the little brass trash can under the bathroom sink. It wasn’t the first time I’d had blood on my clothes, but I dearly hoped it would be the last.

When they came for me, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing the black sheath dress Lara had gotten for me at Lysander’s. I opened the door to find Kristopher.

“Sophie, they’re ready for you,” he said.

I nodded, my heart fluttering in my chest, and my mouth completely dry.

He led me down the stairs, but instead of turning right toward Council headquarters, we went left, into yet another section of Thorne Abbey that was completely foreign to me. This hall was darker, with none of the marble and gilt that seemed to cover the rest of the house. Here, there was just wood paneling and thick iron cages over the lightbulbs. Finally, we stopped at a heavy, scarred door.

The room wasn’t like any other space at Thorne. It was relatively small, for one thing, and dim. There were no windows, and the only light came from a thick metal chandelier ringed with candles. Everything smelled dank and slightly mildewed, and there were dark stains on the worn wooden floor. I didn’t want to think about where they’d come from.

Up front, a long wooden table ran nearly the length of the room, with five high-backed wooden chairs. The chairs were filled with Council members. I saw Lara first, and then, surprised, I realized Mrs. Casnoff was sitting next to her.

I was so shocked to see her back at Thorne, it took me a second to realize that Dad was not sitting at the table. Lara looked up and saw me, and gestured for me to come forward. In front of the table was a low bench, made of the same dark wood as the rest of the room. It was like being locked inside a huge oaken cask.

Archer was sitting on the bench, his elbows resting on his knees. His wrists were still tied together with Kristopher’s cord, and his clothes torn and stiff with blood. But when I sat next to him, he raised his head and tried to smile at me. It was more of a grimace, though. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I knew that would just make things worse. My magic flooded through me, and I let myself envision, just for a moment, unleashing it on that table of five grim faces.

I could have. My powers were stronger than all of theirs combined.

But then what? Make a run for it, destroy everything Dad had worked for, and spend the rest of my life hiding out? No thanks. Whatever the Council had in store for me, it couldn’t be as bad as that.

“Sophia, as you’ve no doubt noticed, your father is not seated with us,” Lara said as Kristopher made his way to sit on the other side of her. “We decided, and he agreed, that he could not maintain the necessary objectivity to participate in your sentencing.”

I glanced around and finally spotted Dad leaning against the back wall, nearly hidden in the gloom. His arms were crossed, but I couldn’t see his face. Then it occurred to me that Lara said Dad hadn’t participated in my sentencing. Had he had a role in deciding what would happen to Archer?

“But since Council law requires we have five members at all rulings, Anastasia agreed to fill the vacant seat. The two of you face very serious charges.” Lara’s voice should have been big and booming, the sound of a judgment coming from on high. Instead, it was low and quiet, almost intimate. “Archer Cross, you infiltrated Hecate Hall as a member of L’Occhio di Dio. Do you freely admit to this?”

Never in my life had I wished so hard for telepathic powers.Please don’t be a smart-ass, please don’t be a smart-ass, I thought, trying to will the words into Archer’s brain. Either it worked, or Archer had more sense than I’d thought.

“I do,” he said softly.

It was as if a sigh rippled through all five Prodigium. Then, as one, their eyes swiveled to me. “Sophia Mercer, you intruded in a forbidden area on Graymalkin Island and plotted with a member of L’Occhio di Dio in order to do it. Do you freely admit to this?”

A million arguments and explanations leaped to my tongue, namely that I’d only been at that part of Graymalkin because the Casnoff sisters were up to some evil crap there, but I bit them all back. I just wanted this over with. “I do.”

Lara nodded, and I think I saw a flicker of relief on her face. She scribbled something on a long piece of parchment in front of her. She didn’t even look up as she said, “Mr. Cross, since you admit to the charges before you, we shall now pronounce your sentence.”

My heartbeat slowed, and I suddenly felt very cold, like I was about to teleport. But it wasn’t magic, just fear.

“It is the ruling of this Council that you shall be taken onto the grounds of Thorne Abbey tomorrow at dawn and executed.”

It was like all the air rushed out of my lungs. Out of the room. I thought the chamber started to vibrate, but it wasn’t the room. It was me, shaking so hard I couldn’t see straight. Tomorrow. Dawn. That was less than twenty-four hours away. In less than a day, Archer would be dead. The words screamed in my skull, the pain in my head almost as intense as the pain in my heart.

Next to me, Archer drew in a deep breath, and I dug my nails into my palms to keep from taking his hand. If I touched him now, I was afraid of what might happen. My powers churned inside me, the way they had last night when I thought he was dying. I didn’t think there was anything I could picture that would keep me from blowing this place to smithereens if I released even an iota of magic.

“As for you, Sophia,” Lara said, drawing my attention back to the table. “You are an entirely different matter.”

I’d been so focused on how they were going to kill Archer that I nearly forgot I still had to be punished.

Lara frowned, a vertical line forming between her brows, and said, “This is merely the last in a long line of troubling events where you are concerned. There was the situation at Hecate in the fall. You injured several Prodigium at Shelley’s several weeks ago. You were able to open the case holding Virginia Thorne’s grimoire almost single-handedly.”

I shook my head. How did she know about that? I wanted to turn to Dad again, but it was like my eyes were glued to Lara, watching her lips as she calmly continued, “And perhaps most disturbing of all is the strength of your necromancy skills. There has literally never been another Prodigium as proficient in those as you.”

“What, you mean the ghouls?” I asked, confused. “Because, I mean, yeah, I could control them, but it took nearly everything out of me.”

Mrs. Casnoff settled back in her chair, hands folded on top of the scarred table and spoke for the first time. “Not the ghouls, Sophie. We are speaking of Elodie Parris.”

Her words fell on me like stones. “You told me that she had attempted to communicate with you at Hecate. Is this true?”

I could feel every eye in the room on me, even Archer’s. “Yes.”

Mrs. Casnoff leaned forward. “And has she done the same here at Thorne?”

My fingers were icy as I curled them in my lap, but I didn’t say anything. Still, Mrs. Casnoff nodded as if I had. “There’s never been a case of a ghost communicating with a Prodigium, much less following one across the Atlantic Ocean. Elodie should be haunting Hecate. Instead, she’s hauntingyou.” She shook her head slightly, like she couldn’t believe it. “It’s possible that it’s an aftereffect of her sharing magic with you as she was dying, but again, there is no precedent for anything like it. When we take that into account with both the powers you’ve already displayed, and your heritage, I’m afraid it leaves us with no choice.”