by Candy Crum
Arryn could hear screams inside the building, screams from people who were burning, people who were dying.
Refusing to back down, Arryn took another step forward, her magic licking her palms. All three magicians had created fireballs, so Arryn immediately threw a shield up behind her to protect the growing crowd as she seized her opportunity.
"Everyone stay back! I had nothing to do with this, but I sure as hell plan to fix it," Arryn told them.
She jumped forward, landing on her hands and tumbling over once before planting her feet, narrowly missing the fireballs that were thrown at her. She swung her hand as though she were smacking someone in the face, and large chunks of stone broke from the street and hit the three in front of her.
Arryn only barely sensed the magic approaching in time to flex her entire body, a magical shield jumping into existence around her as a fireball hit her from behind.
Arryn turned and saw several citizens wielding magic, planning to use it against her.
But that wasn't the only thing that she saw.
There in the crowd was Scarlett, controlling what everyone saw. There was no hiding her bright white eyes, though no one else seemed to notice.
It made sense now why her colleagues and fellow students had decided to make such random accusations—it was because Scarlett was inserting those words and convincing the crowd of their truth.
Arryn was a cold-blooded killer.
Arryn had blown up the Capitol building.
Arryn was in a fight with three innocent bystanders, and was threatening to kill them.
As she realized what she was up against, Arryn began to fear the outcome more than ever. If she let them go, they would do far worse, but if she killed them, there would be no going back. They would see her as a murderer, and it would take quite a lot to convince them otherwise.
Arryn heard a deep laugh, and she turned to see David. "You should have left Talia alone," he declared, his voice only loud enough for Arryn to hear. "You should have left the city alone. It's ours, and we will restore it to the way that it should be."
More screams erupted from the building, and Arryn realized she could wait no longer. It didn't matter what people thought of her, only that they were safe.
Arryn turned to David and smiled. "Then I guess this is really gonna suck for you guys. Turns out, I was raised by the druids not to give a shit what other people think, but to always protect them from shitheads like you. Bye, now!"
Arryn's eyes turned jet-black as she arced her hands over her chest, pulling them away to reveal two bright blue fireballs. She threw the first to the ground at the rebels’ feet, the tiny explosion throwing them back on their asses.
Arryn could hear the roar of the crowd behind her as they prepared to approach. Extinguishing the other fireball, she turned and allowed her fear for the lives surrounding her to guide her hand.
She thrust her hands out and wind exploded around her, tumbling all the men and women back, though not harming anyone.
She turned back to her fight to see Hugh running, and she quickly threw her hand out, a thin, weak vine breaking free of the ground and wrapping itself around his feet to slam him to the ground.
David threw another fireball and Arryn thrust her hand out, pitching it directly back to strike him in the chest. He screamed as he hit the ground, rolling and struggling to put the fire out.
Victoria ran to Arryn to engage her in hand-to-hand combat, and at that moment, Arryn was struck in the back of the head by another citizen who was innocent, but still in the way.
She was worried that he would get hurt if he continued, so she did the only thing she could.
Arryn kicked him inside of the leg, buckling his knee and bringing him down before punching him hard in the temple. He fell to the ground, unconscious, and Arryn turned back just in time to block a strike from the other teacher.
Victoria wrapped her hand in Arryn's hair and yanked her head back, lifting a knife in her other hand to bring it down on Arryn's throat. Her eyes widened as she saw the steel glinting in the sunlight.
She grabbed the hand in her hair and spun, twisting Victoria’s arm before dropping to the ground and throwing the woman over her back. The teacher landed hard on her side, air exploding from her lungs.
Arryn dove for the knife, but the other woman recovered more quickly than she had anticipated. There was a brief struggle before Victoria grasped the dagger and swung, slicing Arryn's face as she did.
Without hesitation, Arryn kicked her hard in the stomach, the woman falling flat on her back as she once again struggled to breathe. Climbing on top of her, Arryn punched her hard in the face, disorienting her before grabbing knife and driving it through the woman's heart.
David shouted as he charged. Arryn quickly pulled the knife from the dead teacher’s chest and lightly tossed it in the air to catch it by the tip of the blade before turning and throwing it as hard as she could, hitting him in the chest.
Arryn stood, stumbling a bit as she struggled to catch her breath. Her head swam from the adrenalin and the hard hit she had received. She glanced around at the looks on the faces of the crowd. They were terrified.
Since she'd managed to subdue all of them with a gust of wind, they were too frightened to approach. Only one man had summoned his courage to do so, and she'd laid him out in two hits.
She saw herself through their eyes, and her heart broke. She had just murdered two people in cold blood as far as they were concerned, but she couldn't let that stop her. There was no more time to be wasted when there were lives at stake inside.
As she turned to head into the building, she saw something that she hadn't expected.
Talia walked out of the building with Amelia's arm wrapped around her shoulders and several other people behind her. They were all filthy, covered in ash and coughing terribly with every step.
She gently lowered Amelia to the ground before turning toward the building with her hands outstretched. Within seconds, several people came to stand next to her as they manipulated and controlled the fire.
In only a couple of minutes, the flames were completely gone, and all that was left of the west side of the building was charred and crumbled wood and stone.
Once the fire was out, Talia looked around, her jaw dropping as her hands rose to cover her mouth. Arryn was caught between wanting to rip her head off and laughing.
It was certainly one hell of a performance, and the crowd was eating it up.
Had Arryn been smart, she would have fought the crowd to get to Scarlett. Because of her, Talia had everything she wanted in that moment.
"What happened?" Talia asked as she looked at the two bodies on the ground. Hugh was shackled by vines, but alive.
Shouts and accusations began to fly from the crowd; men, women and children screaming Arryn's name. "She did this! The outsider!" one man cried.
"It's her! She blew up the building. She tried to kill the Chancellor! I bet she killed Amos, Dallas, and James, too!" a woman shouted.
Talia's expression was a truly convincing cross between horror and shock. "Arryn?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but Arryn could hear it just fine. "This can't be true. You? You did this? Why? Amelia was your friend. I was your friend."
Arryn looked at Amelia, who was struggling to stand. There was blood pouring down her face and arms.
Arryn, I know it wasn't you, but I can hear their thoughts. Scarlett's in their heads, Amelia sent telepathically.
Fighting the urge to nod, Arryn responded, I knew the outcome the moment I realized the crowd was building. They set me up. They set you up. This is Talia's challenge to you. You have to remain in power.
I can't do this alone. I need you. We need to take her down together, Amelia told her.
If you don't arrest me right now, Scarlett will turn the crowd on you. Talia will have full control, and there will be a coup. You and I will both and up in jail, and Talia will have the entire Guard at her command. Do it. Do it now.
Arryn saw Amelia's eyes close briefly, and she knew right then that Amelia was as much of part of her family as Celine, Cathillian, Elysia, and even Samuel.
Amelia stepped forward, using every bit of the strength she had left after fighting her way through fire to save the people who were behind her. As she raised her hand, the crowd quieted. Their accusations quieted. Their shouts for action quieted.
Amelia took a deep breath and prepared to speak, but she had one last thing to say to Arryn.
I'm sorry, Amelia said to Arryn.
Amelia, make it good, or you haven't even begun to be sorry, Arryn replied.
"Guard!" Amelia shouted.
She began to topple a little, and Talia was quick to catch her. Arryn quirked a smile as she saw Amelia hold on to the Dean for support. Several guards approached and stopped, awaiting instructions.
"Killer! Murderer! Monster!" came from the crowd, everyone shouting different things as newcomers were filled in by others as to what had transpired.
"Kill her just like she killed the others!" someone yelled.
Amelia held her hands up again, the noise of the crowd dying to a dull roar. "Arryn, for your crimes against Arcadia, against our great city, you are under arrest. The Guard will take you immediately to the prison, which we are very blessed wasn't destroyed in the blast. You will remain there until an investigation has been completed and we have what we need to try you for treason."
Tears ran down Arryn's face, and every one of them was as real as they could get.
She’d come back to Arcadia to fight for it, to be its hero, and now she was seen as a monster trying to destroy it.
"Do you accept these charges?" Amelia asked, taking a strong step forward, her eyes turning black as she did. "Or will we have to take you by force?" As Amelia issued her threat a fireball appeared in her hand, one that was not only large, but intensely hot. It seemed she’d taken Arryn's advice and decided to make a good show of it.
Arryn slowly dropped to her knees, signaling her surrender as she lowered her head. The Guard seized Arryn, tying her hands behind her back and carrying her to the east side of the Capitol building, which not been destroyed and contained the jail.
Sit tight, Amelia sent. I'll stop at nothing to get the proof we need, and I’ll get you out of there.
I appreciate that, but I don't plan to wait that long.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Cathillian, Celine, and Samuel all sat on the couch, listening to the terrifying description of why Arryn wouldn't be home. Amelia had to wait until well after dark before she could sneak away, but she knew they would be worried.
Cathillian shook his head, fists clenched hard and rage dominating his expression. "If I'd only believed her. It wasn't that I didn't believe her, I was just worried. She was obsessed. When the bitch came here I was convinced she was an innocent bystander to Arryn's irrational anger."
Amelia nodded slowly. "Yeah, well… I have a theory about that. Scarlett is a mystic. I don't have any hard proof, but Arryn believes it and call me crazy, but I'm sure as hell not going to brush away any more of her theories. They've all been right so far. It's possible that Scarlett was messing with your head to convince you that Talia was perfect so it would cause problems."
"Aye," Samuel added. "Livin' in the Heights, I've seen more than me fair share of those brain jockeys. Granted, I ain't never met a bad one, but I've seen what the good ones can do. I can only imagine what the bad ones are like."
Celine leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together. "So, what exactly did you arrest her for? How do we get her out of there?"
Amelia took a seat on the floor in front of the fireplace, folding her legs in. "It's very complicated, but I'll explain what I know. Students have been going missing for weeks, and they all show up murdered in the same way—throat slit, blood drained. Recently, there has been two murders. The last one was a boy named James. From the looks of it, he was the one killed in Arryn’s old house.
“We found a knife by the body of this one. That was a little back story for you so you can see just how long this has been going on. When I had Arryn arrested today, it was because she had gotten into an altercation with three people, killing two of them and subduing a third in front of a crowd of people."
Shock crossed Cathillian's face. "What? That can't be accurate."
Amelia nodded. "It is. There was an explosion at the Capitol building. It was during the time you were outside the city walls teaching nature magic, so I can understand why you didn't hear it. That said, I'm pretty sure Arryn found them attacking the building. By the time she got involved, Scarlett had arrived with a crowd of people that she was controlling. I haven't had a chance to talk to Arryn, but I saw Scarlett, and I saw her eyes. I don't know if she realized that I saw her, but I did. She was using far too much magic and was spread so thin that it didn’t have any effect on me."
"Okay, so Arryn killed the people involved. What then?" Celine asked.
"It was a mess. There were shouts about her being a traitor and telling me to sentence her to death. It was horrible. The crowd saw Talia lead me and the rest of the survivors out of the building safely. That along with Scarlett’s magic set in stone that Talia was a hero, and they had seen Arryn kill two people—so she was the obvious threat. I had no choice, and Arryn knew it. She told me to arrest her. I had to do it to stay in control."
Amelia took a deep breath, brushing her hair back. It was obvious to Cathillian that she was fighting back tears. He couldn't exactly say that he blamed her given all she'd been through, all she was currently going through, and all that would still happen.
"I arrested her to safeguard my title and keep Talia out of the Chancellor's chair. I promised an investigation, and I immediately initiated it. Unfortunately, during the fight, Arryn stabbed both people in the chest. The knife she used was the very one that had been in my office; one that had gone missing, and I hadn't even realized it. I didn't know until I got back to my office after Arryn was taken to the jail. It was the same knife we think all the other people had been killed with, which only added to the evidence against her. But that's not the worst of it."
Cathillian sighed, his eyes closing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It gets worse than that? Seriously?"
Amelia continued. "There were several people who told me they saw Arryn throw the fireballs that caused the explosion. Obviously, this was Scarlett’s work, but other people heard it. I had no choice but to take it under advisement. Not only that, but along with the blood that was found in her childhood home, the people who saw her walking to her old house that night, and Dallas' friend who identified a cloaked woman with long dark hair, Arryn isn't just one of the choices. She's the choice."
Samuel sat back on the couch, popping his knuckles as he made a fist over and over. "What do we do? How do we get our girl outta there?"
Amelia smiled. "That's the best part. Or, I guess I should say the only good part. I don't think we have to worry about that. You see, I put Arryn in the cell next to Elon, who was best friends with Arryn's father, Christopher. He harbors great guilt about what happened, so I have a feeling that Arryn won't be in there for long."
Samuel laughed. "Is that so? Is that why Elon is still in there after all this time? Seems like he's not gonna be much help at all."
"Elon was the Chief Engineer. I doubt there's anyone in the city smarter than he is. Believe me, that man could've gotten out of that jail a long time ago if he wanted to. The only thing that holds him there is guilt. He won't allow Arryn to suffer. He made a few mistakes that he can't take ever back, not only with his son, but years ago with Arryn and her family. He can't make things right with his son, Gregory. I have faith that he's going to do everything he can to help Arryn. Keep an eye peeled—she’ll more than likely be here before the night's out, but I can't know anything about it."
Celine nodded. "That's smart. If the mystic finds her way into your head, she'll know Arryn is gone."
***
Arryn had done her best to heal herself with the limited energy she had available. She wasn't the best healer anyway, but exhausted by magic use and fighting, she was even less effective.
Her face had been injured the worst, the knife having sliced her from her temple down the side of her face and across her cheek and chin.
She was lucky the knife had missed her eye. Healing abilities or not, that shit would've hurt.
"Arryn?" a masculine voice called from the cell beside her.
She was just waking up, but she found the energy to respond. "Yeah? Who the hell wants to know?"
There was a pause before he spoke again. "I don't know if you remember me, but you were great friends with my son, Gregory. My name is Elon. You look so different, I never would've recognized you had they not said your name when they carried you in."
Arryn sighed. "Ah... You're the one who set our downfall in motion. I wonder, had you not opened your big mouth, would my parents have succeeded? Would you and I be sitting at a large banquet table, Gregory at my side like my parents always teased me about? Or would I have found myself an orphan in the Dark Forest anyway?"
"I suppose that I deserved that. I deserve a lot of things. Least of all, forgiveness from you or my son. I don't give a damn about anything else."
Arryn gave a sarcastic, unamused laugh. She wasn't exactly sure what to say, or if she wanted to say anything. She'd had a thousand questions for that man, but just at that moment, lying on that crappy bed and staring at the ceiling seemed like a better way to spend her time.