The Law and the Codas

Chapter Thirty-Four

It feels like I've lived, and died, a thousand times over while trapped in the Blackhole's darkness. I'd shed tears until I had no more to cry, only to find out that I still had some deep inside me and I'd pushed those out.

I mauled over Keran's death. Feeling sad, outraged, betrayed. She'd left us to scope out the area and then she'd abandoned us, gotten herself killed.

By the time the van stops rocking and the whir of the engine cuts out and I hear footsteps outside, I'd been truly emptied of everything I could give. I'd mourned for every aspect of Keran: the girl I didn't like, the Lieutenant that scared me shitless, the child I glimpsed when her veneer cracked, the loyalist, the idealist, the fool.

Someone grabs me by the back of my neck and yanks me off the metal bench. With nothing left, I follow blindly. Thankfully, whoever leads me out of the van -- judging by the lack of nails digging into my flesh, it's a safe bet that whoever it is, isn't Masters -- is careful I don't fall.

"Step here," the voice commands.

The room is dizzingly bright, we'd been brought to the heart of it all, the place where we'd meet our death, one way or another: the Law's Inner Chamber.

Marava, Jonathan and Sin stand beside me, equally mesmerized by the sight. Relief washes over me as I watch Sin, red-face and bleary-eyed, standing upright by himself. He'd been given a good shock, maybe a level Four, but the ride over seems to have roused him back into being a capable, functioning human being.

"Ten," Jonathan whispers. I arch my brows. "Look up." He points toward the glass ceiling. It was impressive, sure, but so was the rest of the room and no one's been fawning over--"The sunlight's real," he says, his tone one of hushed reverence.

Even though it couldn't be possible, even though I knew the sunlight inside every Aviary was artificial I decide to indulge Jonathan and lookup.

"It's lovely." An unfamiliar voice echoes throughout the chamber.

Though I could stand and stare at the sky for ages, I force myself to turn. On the far side of the room, a woman sashays down the dais, dressed in an all-white robe that flutters around her ankles. "I always like it when we open the dome and let the sunlight in." My heart plummets and all the air feels as though it left me. Today's a special occasion." Or an execution, I wanted to add.

Was this the Law's one act of kindness? To let us see the sky before we were sentenced to hang?

The image of Izzer's imposter dangling from the rope comes back to me. His body had twitched long after his neck had snapped. At the time, I'd thought it odd for your body to carry on seconds after you'd left it. Would that be me? I can't breathe and it's as though the noose is already strangling me.

The woman, who'd I recognize anywhere as Councilor Mercado, smiles which makes my blood ice over. "It's good to see my reputation precedes me," she flips a lock of hair behind her and while continuing to smile, adds, "Welcome to the Inner Chamber, potentials."

She glides toward us, her robes sweeping out behind her that others might see as regal though what I see is a devil striding over the corpses they'd made in their lifetime, eyes giddy to add another to the pile. "Well, don't just stand there, gaping," she says, motioning for me to come to her. I stiffen. "You speak when spoken to." My tongue feels thick and heavy in my mouth, useless.

Her gaze runs the length of me, lingering on the frizzy mess my hair's become. Her smile slips into a frown."Ah," she says, "You must be Ten."

I nod. The tiny beads in her hair jingle as she tosses her head back. "It's clear manners weren't apart of this year's curriculum. I'll have to bring this to the Law's attention."