"Hey," she said. "Us school sluts have to stick together, right?"
I knew that Morgan meant the word slut as a sort of in-joke between us, and my smile widened a little. "You'd better believe it."
Carson also stuck up for me again in myth-history, leaving his desk right in front of mine and grinning at me before burying his nose in a stack of sheet music and staying that way until Metis started class. Carson was obviously stressing about the winter concert tomorrow, so I left him alone. Besides, I had other things on my mind too-my impending trial, for one.
With the other students taunting me and the Reaper attack, I hadn't had a chance to think too much about the trial, but Linus had said that it would start after classes today. All day long, I'd kept gazing at the clocks on the walls, watching the hours and minutes tick away until I was all out of time.
The last bell of the day rang, signaling the end of myth-history. I sat in my seat and waited until all the other students had filed out before getting to my feet. Once again, I kept my face calm, but my movements were slow and stiff, and I felt like there were a pair of hands deep inside my chest, tying my insides into tighter and tighter knots. Alexei stood in the corner, watching me, just like he had all day long.
Metis tucked her papers in her briefcase and turned to face me. "It's time," she said. "Please follow me."
I nodded, not sure what else to do, not sure what else I could do without opening my mouth and insisting once again that the Protectorate had it all wrong, that I wasn't a Reaper.
I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder. It felt light, empty almost, without Vic in it. I'd taken the sword back to my room after gym class. I didn't want him to pipe up and say the wrong thing at my trial and risk the Protectorate taking him away from me. Naturally, Vic had grumbled about being left behind-
"Gwen?" Metis asked. "Are you okay?"
"Sure," I said. "Just terrific. Let's go get this over with."
I followed Metis out of the classroom, to the end of the hallway, and then outside. Alexei trailed along behind me, and Sergei and Inari were waiting at the bottom of the steps of the English-history building, I supposed to keep me from bolting.
The two men fell in step on either side of me, with Metis leading the way and Alexei bringing up the rear. We crossed the quad in silence, although stares and whispers sprang up in our wake.
Daphne, Carson, Logan, and Oliver were out on the quad too, right outside the math-science building. My friends stared at me, their faces tight with concern. They weren't allowed at my trial, so this was the only support they could give me. I looked at my friends and smiled, as though everything was going to be okay, but I didn't stop to talk to them. If I did that, I didn't know if I'd be able to get through this.
I trudged up the steps to the math-science building and went inside with the others. Then, down, down, down, we went, with Metis punching in codes on keypads and chanting a bit of magic mumbo jumbo when necessary.
All too soon, though, we were on the bottom level in front of the door that led into the academy prison. I eyed the sphinxes carved into the stone, but once again the creatures stared at their feet instead of me.
Metis used her skeleton key to open the door, and I felt Sergei's hand on my arm a moment, gently guiding me forward. I swallowed and stepped through the opening to the other side.
The prison looked the same as always-Raven's desk in the corner, glass cells stacked on top of each other, the hand-and-scales carving on the domed ceiling. But there were two new additions. A stone interrogation table stood in the same place as before, directly below the carving, although it was twice as big as the one where Preston had always sat. But what really caught my attention was a second table that had been erected on the far side. Together, the two tables created a loose T shape, with the second table forming the top part of the letter. The second table had also been set on a stone dais, raising it up several feet off the ground, and seven chairs were arranged behind it. That's where my jury would sit, I thought bitterly. Looking down on and judging me from above.
A hand touched my shoulder, and a faint, familiar jingle-jingle-jingling sounded. I turned, and Grandma Frost was there. She wore a black pantsuit with her usual black shoes, and she'd tied a violet scarf around her throat and another one in her hair. The silver coins on the ends glimmered in the light.
"Grandma!" I said and hugged her tight.
She smoothed down my hair. "Don't you worry, pumpkin. I'm right here with you. We'll set these yahoos straight."
"And so am I," another voice cut in.
I let go of Grandma to see Nickamedes standing behind her. "I don't understand."
The librarian straightened up to his full height. "I'm to represent you in your defense and see that your rights are not violated."
"You would do that for me? Even though I wrecked the library again last night?"
He grimaced a little, but his eyes remained kind in his face. "Even though."
"If the pleasantries are over with," Linus Quinn said, striding into the prison, along with Agrona, Ajax, and Raven, "let us begin."
The door clanged shut, sealing us all in the prison. The sound seemed to echo through the whole chamber over and over again, until the force of it rattled my teeth.
I swallowed my growing dread and followed Nickamedes over to the interrogation table. I took a seat in the middle, with the librarian on my right and Grandma Frost on my left. Grandma took my hand in hers, but the warmth of her fingers and the feel of her love wasn't enough to drive away the cold that had seeped into my bones and the fear that quickened my heart.
Alexei moved to stand behind me and off to my right. The others climbed the steps to the dais and took their seats behind the table there. Linus sat in the middle, with Agrona, Inari, Sergei, Raven, Metis, and Coach Ajax taking the other chairs. Metis gave me an encouraging smile, but I knew the odds were stacked against me. There were seven people on the jury, which meant that I needed at least four to get a majority vote. Metis and Ajax would be on my side, but I doubted any of the others would be, except maybe for Raven.
I looked at the old woman, and she stared back at me. For an instant, her features flickered, as though they weren't her true face, as though there was another person lurking underneath the wrinkles and liver spots. The same thing had happened a few weeks ago at the Crius Coliseum. I blinked, and Raven was just Raven again. Strange, but then again everything about her was strange, including the fact that she already looked bored. Well, I didn't care if she was bored or if she slept through the whole freaking trial, as long as she sided with Metis and Ajax in the end.