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I glanced around and final y spotted Dad leaning against the back wal , nearly hidden in the gloom His arms were crossed, but I couldn't see his face Then it occurred toHad he had a role in deciding ould happen to Archer?

"But since Council law requires we have five reed to fil the vacant seat The two of you face very serious charges"Lara's voice should have been big and booh Instead, it was low and quiet, almost intimate "Archer Cross, you infiltrated Hecate Hal 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 s to wil the words into Archer's brain Either it worked, or Archer had ht

"I do,"he said softly

It was as if a sigh rippled through al 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 aduue, 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 al 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 so piece of parchment in front of her She didn't even look up as she said, "Mr Cross, since you ades before you, we shal now pronounce your sentence"

My heartbeat slowed, and I suddenly felt very cold, like I was about to teleport But it wasn'tof this Council that you shal be taken onto the grounds of Thorne Abbey tomorrow at dawn and executed"

It was like al the air rushed out of ht the chamber started to vibrate, but it wasn't the rooht Tomorron That was less than twenty-four hours away In less than a day, Archer would be dead The words screamed in my skul , the pain in my head almost as intense as the pain in my heart

Next tohis hand If I touched hiht happen My powers churned insideI didn't think there was anything I could picture that would keepthis place to sic

"As for you, Sophia,"Lara said, drawing my attention back to the table "You are an entirely differentto kil Archer that I nearly forgot I stil had to be punished

Lara frowned, a vertical line for between her brows, and said, "This isevents where you are concerned There was the situation at Hecate in the falYou injured several Prodigiuo You were able to open the case holding Virginia Thorne's grile-handedly"

I shook my head How did she know about that? I wanted to turn to Dad again, but it was likeher lips as she cal of al is the strength of your necroiuhouls?"I asked, confused "Because, I mean, yeah, I could control the out of me"

Mrs Casnoff settled back in her chair, hands folded on top of the scarred table and spoke for the first ti of Elodie Parris"

Her words fel 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 saers were icy as I curled the Stil , Mrs Casnoff nodded as if I had "There's never been a case of a ghost co one across the Atlantic Ocean Elodie should be haunting Hecate Instead, she's haunting you"She shook her head slightly, like she couldn't believe it "It's possible that it's an aftereffect of her sharing ain, 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"

My e There was just too in to make sense of it alI had somehow bound Elodie to me, and despite al the work I'd done this summer to not be scary-powerful, that's exactly what the Council was saying I was And what did she aze, and Lara once again scrawled so that you be subjected to the Removal"