My memories of everything after that are a little jumbled. I remember Kristopher storming forward and kicking Archer’s sword out of reach, before jerking his arms behind his back and securing them with that black cord that always hung from his waist.
I know that Lara grabbed Cal’s arm and shouted something at him, while Roderick crossed his arms and scowled at me, his black wings making him look like the angel of death.
But mostly I remember my dad standing there, staring at me with a completely unreadable look. And when I tried to talk to him, he abruptly raised his hand and said, “Do not even attempt to explain this, Sophia.”
The walk back to the house was the longest and most miserable half-mile of my life. I wasn’t sure which to worry the most about—what they would do to Archer, or if Dad would ever forgive me. Up ahead, Dad and Lara conferred in hushed tones, and I tried to absorb the enormity of the trouble I was in. I had been caught with one of Prodigium’s greatest enemies. Something told me that punishment would be a lot worse than writing a thousand words on some obscure topic.
Thorne Abbey was dark and silent as we marched inside. Only once we’d been led all the way back to the main foyer did Dad finally say something.
“We’re calling an emergency meeting of the Council for first thing in the morning. Sophie, Cal, the two of you are to go to your rooms and stay there until someone comes for you. Kristopher, secure Mr. Cross in one of the cells downstairs.”
My gaze locked with Archer’s as Kristopher began dragging him away. “It’s okay,” he mouthed, but it wasn’t. It never would be.
After he was gone, I walked over to Dad. He still wouldn’t look at me, and was holding himself with that same rigidness Cal had shown in the mill. “Dad, I know ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cut it.”
Breathing in deeply through his nose, Dad said, “Until your testimony is over, I can’t speak to you. Please report to your chamber until tomorrow morning.”
My eyes flooded with tears. “Dad—”
“Go!” he shouted, and I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out loud.
He walked away without even glancing at me.
“Come on,” Cal said. “There’s nothing you can do right now.”
“Did you tell them?” I demanded. “Is that why they came to the mill?”
All of Cal’s earlier fury seemed to have completely drained out of him. “No,” he said. “I have no idea why they showed up when they did. Unless it has something to do with those tests they’ve been running on me. Maybe they traced my magic. Who knows?”
He turned to go, and even though I wanted nothing more than to run after Dad, I followed Cal away from the foyer and up the back stairs to our rooms. Our footsteps were muffled by the thick carpet, and the dim light from the sconces made our shadows waver on the walls. I felt the eyes of all the portraits lining the staircase, like they were judging me. All those nameless Prodigium, hunted through the centuries by Eyes, and Brannicks, and God knows what else.
I did it for a good reason, I wanted to tell the painted faces. And Archer isn’t one of them, not really. Somehow, I didn’t think the portraits would believe me.
“What do you think they’ll do to us?” I asked Cal, my stomach icy with fear.
“It won’t be as bad as you think,” he replied, but he didn’t sound wholly convinced. “You’re James’s daughter, and you’re important to them. They aren’t going to throw you to the wolves over something like this.”
I wondered if being thrown to the wolves was a literal punishment in this case. I really didn’t want to know.
“They may stretch your sentence at Hecate by an extra year or so, but I think that would be the worst of it,” Cal continued. “With me—”
“You were just helping me,” I said as we turned down our hall. “Tell them that, okay? Tell them that you were, like, honoring our betrothal vow or something. They’ll go easy on you, I bet.”
We stopped outside his door and he studied me. As usual, I had no idea what was going on in his mind. “Maybe,” was all he said. Then, after another long pause, “I know you think they’re going to kill him, but they might not. Archer Cross is just as valuable to The Eye as you are to the Council. He’d make a good hostage, and they know it.”
I forced my face not to crumple. If I cried any more tonight, I’d probably turn into a dried-out husk. “So what now? We just go to our rooms and sleep and try to pretend like everything is going to be all right?” Another thought occurred to me. “Or pretend that Nick isn’t out there right now, completely crazy and superpowerful? Because there’s no way I can do that.”
“Yes there is.” He reached out, startling me, and pressed his palm to my cheek.
Almost immediately, a sense of well-being flooded through me, a blissful numbness that started at the top of my head and spread all the way to my toes. “Seriously, best powers ever,” I mumbled drowsily.
“Go to bed, Sophie,” he said, dropping his hand as if my skin had burned him. “Tomorrow will be a long day.”
But today wasn’t over yet. As I turned to go, I saw Jenna standing outside my door, her face a mask of hurt and anger.
“I was downstairs getting some blood,” she said, her lips barely moving. “I…saw them come in with you. And Archer.”
Cal’s spell, which had seemed so helpful only a few moments before, was a nightmare now. My brain felt too soft and sleepy to come up with any explanation, and when I tried, I couldn’t get the right words out. “He was helping me.”
She made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob. “Helping you? Sophie, he’s one—”
“Of them,” I finished, suddenly irritated. “I know. You’re not the first person to say it tonight. But Jenna, please.” I reached out for her, curling my fingers around her wrist. “Cal is mad at me, my Dad probably hates me…I can’t have you hate me, too.”
Two tears dripped from her eyes, splashing on the back of my hand. Her bloodstone shimmered slightly in the light from the sconces, and after a long, long moment, she covered my hand with hers. “Okay,” she said, sniffling. “But tomorrow, you’re going to tell me everything.”
“Everything,” I echoed, feeling my own eyes sting. And when she finally wrapped her arms around me and hugged me, it was all I could do not to sob all over her. “You are a way better friend than I deserve,” I mumbled against her shoulder.
She hugged me tighter. “I know.”
I laughed through my tears, and just a little bit of the weight on my heart lifted.
Early the next morning, I heard a knock at the door, and jerked awake in an instant. Cal’s spell had totally faded by that point, and all the anxiety and despair came flooding back. In less than twenty-four hours, my whole life had been turned upside down. Nick and Daisy had demoned out, Archer was a prisoner of the Council, and the fragile relationship I’d built with Dad had been blown completely to smithereens. It didn’t seem fair that so much bad could happen in so short a time.
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.”