by Ruby Brown
Mal nodded, and then there was silence. They continued walking in quietude before a thought struck Mal. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before, she’d just been so caught up in seeing Rose again. “What about Thea?” Mal said hurriedly, a painfully sharp anxiety in her voice.
Rose looked confused for a second. “Thea? Oh, that girl you brought in with you?” Mal nodded. “We all refused to let her go until you woke up and could give evidence. Blaise protested viciously, but ultimately he didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Thank you,” Mal said. Rose nodded once, and then opened the door to the library for Mal to step through. Her eyes scanned the rows of bookshelves straining with the weight of leather-bound manuscripts until she found Trixie balanced precariously on a footstool attempting to place books on the top shelf. The first thing Mal noticed was that Trixie was a lot skinner then she remembered. She had always been slender, but now she looked she would shatter into a million pieces if you pushed her to the floor. Her arms shook as she struggled to support the weight of the stack of books she was holding. Even her hair, which Mal had remembered to be vibrant and curly, hung about her shrivelled face in a greasy curtain.
Trixie’s sunken eyes betrayed no emotion when they saw Rose, but as soon as they fell on Mal, a spark of life made them blaze. Trixie squealed and lost her balance on the footstool, hitting the ground with a crash. The books flew into the air and then came crashing down on top of her. Rose seemed unconcerned, but Mal pushed past her and knelt next to Trixie to see if she was okay. Trixie didn’t let her peak; she just flung herself at Mal and cried with her face buried in Mal’s shoulder, although whether she was crying from pain, happiness or relief, it was impossible to tell. Mal hugged her back, being careful not to hold on too tightly because she was scared Trixie would crumble liked a dry leaf. She could feel Trixie’s spine in agonizingly sharp detail.
“What was that noise?” said a voice from behind Mal. She let go of Trixie and turned around just in time to see Allie emerge. She seemed a lot harsher, as if someone had come along and sharpened all of her edges until she could cut you with a glanceHer hair was tied back so tightly it looked painful, and she held herself so rigidly. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, but they still filled with tears when she saw Mal. She coughed awkwardly and said “it’s nice to see you, Mallika,” before hurriedly marching away from them. Mal just managed to hear a singular sob escape from her before the door to her office slammed and Mal knew that she had locked herself away.
Anxiously, Mal looked down at Trixie, but the young girl didn’t seem at all perturbed by her mother. She beamed at Mal until her face suddenly dropped and she started frantically babbling apologies and concerns in an indecipherable tidal wave of garbled noises. Even though she had absolutely no idea what Trixie was even saying, Mal did her best to be comforting and reassured the panicked child until she calmed down and could breathe again.
Allie came back and told Trixie to keep working, and then asked Mal and Rose to leave before they distracted her any further. The red rings around her eyes betrayed how much she had been crying and Mal didn’t want to make it worse, so she forced Rose to go with her. Mal, who had been eating nothing but questionable hospital food for the past week, was craving something more edible, so Rose took her down to the dining hall. They found Thomas and Dallas there, eating lunch together in an awkward almost-silence broken only by Thomas’ attempts to engage Dallas in conversation and the monotonous responses that contained three syllables at best.
Thomas greeted Mal in a similar way to Trixie: with an exclamation of excitement followed by a tight hug, but Dallas just clapped a hand to her shoulder and continued eating. Mal could tell from the look in his eyes that he was pleased to see her, but by the way his gaze kept drifting over to Rose, she had a suspicion that the joy might be directed mostly at someone else. Mal and Rose piled their plates with food and then joined the two of them at the table, but Mal fond that despite her earlier claims of being starving, she could barely eat her food. Thoughts of Thea swam round her head and made her feel sick with worry, and staring at the plate of food in front of her made her think about how scarily thin Trixie had been. When was the last time she had eaten a decent meal?
“Has anyone been checking up on Trixie?” Mal asked the group. At the mention of her name, Thomas froze instantly.
Rose shook her head. “Like I said, she’s been in that library ever since she got back and Allie seems determined to keep her as distant from everyone as possible. You saw how quickly she made us leave Trixie earlier.”
“Wait, you saw Trixie?” Thomas asked, snapping his head around so quickly he almost broke his neck so that he could look at his sister. Rose avoided his gaze and just nodded, quickly shovelling food into her mouth as an excuse to avoid further conversation. “How is she?” Thomas insisted, trying to push the conversation.
“Haven’t you seen her recently Thomas?” Mal asked with surprise in her voice. Thomas and Trixie had always been so close. She couldn’t imagine that anything would have stopped Thomas from staying in that library and helping his friend, especially when he knew she was so emotionally vulnerable.
All the energy left Thomas and he stared at his plate, ashamed of himself. With a poison as sharp and deadly as a snake’s venom in his voice, he said “I saw her once. Allie made me get out, and I haven’t seen her since. Trixie doesn’t want me there anyway; she says it’ll make her mum angry.”
Mal didn’t miss the sadness in his voice, despite the fact that he clearly tried to cover it up with hatred and indifference. Evidently, Rose didn’t miss it either, for she said “toughen up. Trixie’s fine and we all know she doesn’t need you to help her cope. She can take care of herself. Instead of wasting time worrying about pointless rubbish, why don’t you go down to the training rooms and practice? Your fighting skills are abysmal.”
Thomas didn’t respond. There was no change in his expression, no flinching to show he felt anything from the cruel bite of his sister’s words, even though Mal knew he was hurting behind the mask. He just kept eating. Rose looked at him for a minute, and then when she realised he wasn’t going to give her a response, she turned away. Mal and Dallas sat in awkward and stiff silence until Mal said she wanted to go and talk to Blaise about Thea. Leaping at the chance to get away, Dallas said he’d go with her, so the two of them left Rose and Thomas to their own devices and climbed the stairs to the office. He didn’t talk much, but Mal found Dallas’ presence rather comforting, although she’d never admit it to him.
When they entered the office, they were surprised to see Blaise actually sitting at his desk and working, while Cass was nowhere to be seen. Many people would have considered this to be a good thing and seen it as Blaise finally taking an interest in the future of Tenebar, but it filled Mal with a sense of dread. It didn’t help that as soon as he noticed they were in the room, Blaise hastily stuffed the papers into a drawer so they couldn’t see anything that was written on them.
“Where’s Cass?” Mal said immediately. She had absolutely no time or patience for Blaise.
“Out,” Blaise responded simply, and folded his hands on his desk. “What can I do for you?”
Mal knew it would be hopeless, but she tried anyway. “I want to talk to Thea.”
“No,” Blaise said instantly, and then pointed towards the door like that was the end of their conversation. But Mal wasn’t done. She was determined to have at least one, small victory over this slimy, pathetic excuse for a human being.
“Why not?” Mal asked. Behind her, she could sense Dallas tense up, as if preparing himself for what was about to happen.
“Because I said so.”
“What are you, five?” Mal said angrily.
Blaise laughed loudly. “You think I’m just going to let you go and talk to Thea so the two of you can come up with some kind of heroic plan to make her look innocent so she can escape execution?”
It was at this point that Mal seriously qu
estioned whether or not Blaise was on drugs. “As much as I would like to never have to see you ever again, I just want to talk to Thea and make sure she’s okay. I haven’t seen her in a week, and...wait, did you say execution?”
A wicked smile stretched across Blaise’s face. “That’s right. That’s what I plan to do to your little friend.”
“You can’t do that!” Mal stammered desperately.
“Oh, but I can. Trespassers can be killed, and she is a trespasser. Not only that, but she uses technology we don’t know about and she comes from a strange organisation that tried to kill you. She could pose a serious threat to Tenebar. Isn’t that right Dallas?” Blaise said.
Mal spun round to her friend, silently pleading with him to say no, to get rid of the terrible sinking feeling in her stomach and allow her to breathe again. But the look on his face confirmed Mal’s worst fears before his agreement left his lips. Mal felt the room start to spin. She felt sick. She looked back at Blaise, who was still smiling.
“At least let me say goodbye,” Mal said, letting her emotions choke up her voice and hoping that Blaise would see it as a form of surrender. Blaise just shook his head maddeningly.
“You can see her at the trial, Mal,” Dallas said reassuringly. He glared at Blaise with icy eyes. “And you can also provide evidence to make sure Blaise can’t hurt Thea.”
“Speaking of the trial, Dallas, could you make sure Mal makes it safely to the courtroom after dinner tomorrow evening? I’d hate for her to miss it,” Blaise said.
Dallas reached forward and took Mal’s shoulder in an iron grip, steering her towards the door. Mal didn’t protest, she just let herself be pushed along. Truth be told, she barely even noticed anything that was happening. It was all lost in the blur that surrounded her. The only thing that kept her from completely losing it was Dallas’ strong hand on her shoulder, but despite that Mal left him as soon as she could. She just needed to be alone right now. Dallas, being the awkward introvert that he was, let her go. He could understand the need for personal space, and for many people it might have been beneficial at that point, but not for Mal. Locked in her room, there was nothing to stop her from falling down into the void.
Chapter 26
Mal’s footsteps rang slightly too loudly in her ears as she walked to the courtroom. Rose and Dallas walked on either side of her like bodyguards with Thomas behind them. Mal’s palms were sweaty and she felt sick. She tried to hide the tremors in her hands from the people around her and did her best to maintain a cool and calm composure, but inside she was screaming. Thea’s entire fate dangled from a thread as thin as those in a spider web, and what happened to her depended entirely on how well Mal presented at the trial. She didn’t even know if it would be enough. Blaise was already set on getting rid of Thea. She was completely powerless to stop him, and that bugged her more than anything.
It didn’t help that the last time Mal had been to a courtroom was when Felix was murdered. The memories and emotions of those days were flooding through her head, twisting her gut and making her eyes fill with tears. She hated herself for reopening those old wounds. She thought she’d repressed them enough so they were just scars, but apparently they were still fresh and bleeding. Despite Rose and Thomas talking to her, Mal didn’t say a single word as they walked to the courtroom. Dallas gently encouraged the both of them to leave her alone, which Mal was incredibly grateful for, as she believed that if she opened her mouth she would throw up.
The chairs in the courtroom made the whole place smell of old leather, which was comforting at first but soon became sickening. It got stuck in your nose and your throat and your chest until you found it difficult to breathe. The wooden desks and walls had been polished so thoroughly that you could see your reflection in them. The lights hanging overhead made the whole room uncomfortably bright. The courtroom was already completely packed with a restless audience. Mal scanned the room for Thea’s tell-tale black hair, and to her disgust she saw Thea had been placed inside a large silver cage with bars as thick as Mal’s arm. Thea stood leaning against one of the walls with her arms crossed. She was calm in the way that people were when they didn’t want you to know how scared they were.
Everyone in the room except for Mal was staring at the machinery ticking away in Thea’s cheek. Everywhere she looked, Mal could see the same expressions of sick fascination mixed with a healthy dose of fear, even on the faces of her friends. She tried to be understanding of their emotions by remembering how she had felt when she first saw Thea’s face, but she still resented their fear. Thea had done nothing to deserve it. She’d saved Mal’s life. She wasn’t a criminal.
Mal smiled with relief when she saw that Cass was the judge for this trial. But instantly, she could tell something was wrong. Cass had her hands in her lap, twisting her fingers together anxiously, with her wings folded in tightly as if she was trying to make herself seem as small as possible. Although her eyes roamed about the floor, she couldn’t look up, as if she was ashamed to meet the eyes of anyone in the room, or maybe it was because she didn’t want to get cut on the razor-sharp gaze of Blaise, who Mal noticed sitting at the back of the courtroom. The smug smile on his face made her feel sick.
Mal and her friends filed in and sat down at the front of the audience. Mal glanced at Dallas and realised that his eyes were fixed on Thea in the cage. Mal was suddenly worried about him. She remembered seeing his sister lying in the prison cell earlier, and wondered if he was thinking of her. She reached out to touch Dallas’ shoulder, but as soon as her fingertips brushed his shoulder he jerked his shoulder away and scowled at her. Rose placed her fingertips on Dallas’ shoulder, as a warning or a comfort Mal couldn’t tell, but either way Dallas managed to take a deep breath in and his shoulders relaxed.
Soon, the doors closed with a loud clang, and the trial started. Mal snapped to attention when her name was called, and made her way on shaky legs to the witness stand. She was so nervous that she tripped walking up to it, and although she managed to catch her balance she heard some people in the audience laughing. Someone said in a stage-whisper “that is the girl who’s supposed to save us?” and the chuckling started again. Mal’s face flamed and she clung to the witness stand for dear life, more determined than ever to prove Thea was innocent.
The courtroom clerk, a woman with huge red lips that Mal had never seen before, came up to her and swore her in. Her voice was as thin as she was, and the sound scraped against Mal’s ears. Mal’s own voice was shaky and cracked unless she made a conscious effort to sound calm and self-assured. She had never felt so many pairs of eyes on her at once, and she self-consciously fixed her clothes as the courtroom clerk walked away.
The prosecution lawyer walked up to the podium. He was an overweight, balding man with piercing blue eyes. He was dressed in an immaculate suit and shining shoes. He smiled at Mal, but instead of being a friendly greeting, it looked more like the grin of a predator who knows its prey is cornered. Mal felt herself shrink inside her skin.
“Please state your name for the record,” the prosecution lawyer said. His loud voice echoed around the room like the sound of a bass drum.
“Mallika Jay,” Mal said nervously. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the stenographer write it down. That was when she fully realised the gravity of every word she spoke, and how careful she had to be not to sink everyone with the weight of them.
“Can you tell the court exactly what your relationship is with Thea Lock?”
“We’re friends. She saved my life,” Mal blurted out, feeling that it was incredibly important everyone was made fully aware of this. From the way the prosecution lawyers’ eyes widened and the murmurs that rippled through the crowd like water after you’ve dropped a rock in it, Mal could tell no one had been told this before.
“How did she do that?” the lawyer said, hiding his panic behind a cool veil of professional indifference.
Mal instantly launched into a detailed explanation of everything Thea had done for
her. Her voice got louder and faster as she went, her eyes fixing on the faces on the crowd in the hope that she was getting through to them. Apart from the occasional raised eyebrow or glimmer of surprise, she couldn’t see any emotion on the faces in front of her, and it scared her. They all seemed convinced that Thea should be broken down. Although they had done a good job of hiding it from her, Mal could tell that even Rose and Dallas thought it would be best. She had an impossible task.
When Mal eventually stuttered to a stop like a car that’s run out of petrol, she was met with a stunned silence. The lawyer blinked twice, and then said “Mallika, how long have you been at Tenebar for?”
“A few months,” Mal responded.
“Then you can’t fully understand what we do here and the threat that Thea poses to us.”
“Thea knows who I am. If she really wanted to hurt us, she wouldn’t have gone through much trouble to bring me back here alive at her own risk.”
“We can’t know what her motives are. She could be collecting information as a spy, or waiting for the right time to take you away again. We’re all in danger as long as she’s here. Why wait until she does serious damage before we eliminate her? Even if she has good intentions, she is a robot programmed to follow orders from the people who tortured you, our one hope at salvation. She could have some kind of feature we’re not aware of that endangers us.”
“I’m sorry; did you just call me your one hope at salvation?”
The man’s eyes widened slightly. He wasn’t entirely sure what Mal was getting at, but he knew he might have made a mistake. “Yes, I did.”
“Then it’s not just me who owes Thea my life, it’s all of you. She could have left me to die there and gotten rid of any chance you have at defeating Akraansir.”
The lawyer turned to the assembled crowd. “I’m sure everyone here is aware of how Tenebar has been betrayed by outsiders before. To open our doors to strangers again, especially during these difficult times, would be foolish. We don’t understand how Thea works and the damage she could do to us is immeasurable. She could destroy everything.”