She didn't return to her cell right away. Instead, she was granted an additional session with Jefferson, discussing their next steps. It was now getting pretty late, and the windows were completely dark—fitting, that the sky vanished along with Hailey's hopes of flying again any time soon.

  Jefferson left after explaining the next parts of the trial process—she'd be arraigned, where they'd formally charge her with everything and set the real trial date. Usually, the arraignment and bail hearing happened at the same time, but they wanted to go through all the pomp and circumstance for her, take every single step one at a time, with the media circus surrounding the whole affair.

  I thought mine was supposed to be the low-key one. Wasn't Rika the big deal? I mean, I don't want her to be treated like this either, but… ugh. I just want to go through this without feeling like the whole world is watching.

  Hailey nearly laughed at the self-contradiction. Here she was, the party girl, the one everybody called a social queen, friends with everyone, always the center of attention—and she didn't want anyone to see her.

  Because it hurts so much. Because I'm on trial for the worst days of my life.

  Jefferson left shortly afterward. He had a meeting with the prosecution, where they'd start discussing plea bargains. Hailey wasn't necessarily going to get one—again, pomp and circumstance—but if Jefferson could reach a reasonable agreement, she definitely might take it. After so much chaos, Hailey just wanted to have her life settle down again.

  Remember when it was just me and you living alone, Jess? Nobody else in our whole world for months and months. I hated it, but you probably loved it so much. Why couldn't I see how nice that was?

  Oh. Right. Because I was blaming myself for your ritual going wrong. Because we were in hiding, and we turned out to be right, 'cause he ended up burning down the whole town.

  Hailey wanted to go back to that home now. She knew it was impossible—the building had been ripped apart by the magnetic ritual—but still. She'd give anything to be in her old bed, Jessica wrapped up next to her, with nothing to worry about besides work and school and trying to find a solution to Jessica's ritual.

  The guard took her back to her cell and left her alone again. Hailey felt exhausted. Something about prison messed with her body, made her more tired than usual. She spent more time sleeping every day. When the guard left, Hailey fell onto the bed and was asleep in minutes, back to the nightmares she still faced every night—of chains and quicksand and any number of other traps which might forever ground her.

  Hours later, she was awakened by a rapping sound on her bars. The lights suddenly snapped on, flooding the cell block with light.

  "Winscombe," said the guard. "Lawyer's back."

  Bleary-eyed, Hailey glanced around. Her clock said it was past eleven.

  "Huh?"

  "Special exemption 'cause his schedule is insane. Take it while you can, trust me. Come on, up and at 'em."

  They did the whole routine again—cuffs, the walk, the cameras, the interview room. Jefferson didn't arrive right away, leaving Hailey alone in the interview room for a while. She paced back and forth, grateful for the larger space to move around in, but it still wasn't much. Finally, after many minutes, just as Hailey considered calling the guard back in, Jefferson arrived.

  "I'm so sorry for the delay, Miss Winscombe," said Jefferson, folders packed between his arms.

  "What happened?" asked Hailey, now seriously worried. If Jefferson was this harried, something huge had to have happened. So far, every time she'd worked with him, he hadn't been phased in the slightest. Did someone die? Another one of us picked up for a trial? Is he working with Cinza now?

  "Hm?" Jefferson looked confused. "Oh, I'm sorry. No, nothing happened. However, I think it's important I keep you in the loop on the plea negotiations. We haven't really had time to go over how pleas work, and what expectations we should set here."

  "...Okay." Hailey hesitated, glancing at the clock on the wall. "You're just here so late, and they said it was a special exception."

  "Well, it is for the prison procedure." Jefferson shrugged. "I've worked stranger hours before on a case, and I assumed you'd welcome the distraction."

  "So this is just you being really busy?"

  "More or less." He smiled. "If you're worried about my health, I've got colleagues arriving tomorrow to start taking over Rika's case."

  "Are they as good as you?" asked Hailey. "Because she needs it more than me."

  "They are." Jefferson looked a little taken aback. He quickly shuffled through his papers before looking up again. "So far, the prosecutor is being obstinate about your charges, but I'm fairly certain the state will drop nearly all of them. Goldstein will be a problem, but I've been in contact with other members of the DOJ, and I'm told they want to end this quietly without any significant punishment for you."

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  "So what's wrong with Goldstein?"

  "He's not one to let go easily." Jefferson sighed. "I've only heard of him by reputation, but I know he doesn't like pleas, even though that's practically our entire justice system these years. It's the only way we can still function, really." He shuffled around another paper with an outline on Goldstein, sliding it over to Hailey. "It's why they chose him."

  "What do you mean?" asked Hailey, while she started skimming the profile.

  "They wanted someone beyond reproach, so the public won't think they're giving you an easy trial. Goldstein is who they came up with, and make no mistake, he's going to put you through the ringer."

  Hailey winced. By all the accounts Jefferson's firm dug up, it seemed true. Goldstein was going to want to put her through a whole trial, no pleading out early. She could be in prison for months during the trial process, since she'd already been denied bail.

  It's what needs to happen. I can get through it.

  "...Okay," she said finally.

  "I'll be working on the plea bargains though. We might be able to get something through quickly, especially since bail was denied. That helps fulfill the image you're being treated seriously. You'll spend more time in prison now to get out sooner, all right?"

  "Okay."

  "We should discuss what timeframes sound acceptable to you. I've outlined similar cases here, to give us some ideas for what this sort of charge can plead out to, but obviously, there's no such thing as true precedent here…"

  Jefferson kept speaking, but Hailey had gotten distracted. She'd been practicing enhancing her hearing while in the prison, since she was so isolated and wanted any kind of stimulation or distraction while stuck in her cell. It became a habit, and now she did it during conversations simply to keep an ear out for possible danger while talking.

  Something caught her attention. The guard in the next room was watching something on TV, and they'd just mentioned a few words in the same sentence which set her heart pumping.

  "Olympic Forest… awakened… golems… massacre…"

  "Stop," said Hailey suddenly, cutting Jefferson off mid-sentence.

  "I know it sounds rough, but—"

  She waved him silent, squinting at the doorway. She couldn't see through, of course, but something about the motion helped her focus on the sounds wafting through the door. The cold metal chair, a stark contrast to the soft fabric of the courtroom, only added to the shivers running up her skin as the news report continued.

  "Governor Ashe deployed the National Guard to the region, under the command of Captain Hoskins. Working with Cinza and the awakened, the Guard were able to drive back the assault and save the lives of dozens still present in the camp. CNN brings you now exclusive footage from a reporter who happened to be on-scene during the attack."

  Hailey leapt to her feet and ran to the door, pressing her face against the window. Only half of the screen was visible, but thanks to her magic, she could make it out perfectly. It was a video of the pilgrim camp in full swing, as the amateur reporter CNN had bought the footage from tried—and failed—to find Cinza after stalking her home from D.C.

  "What?" asked Jefferson, sounding fearful.

  "Brian Hendricks just attacked somebody. They said something about a massacre."

  "Oh God…" he murmured. "What are you doing now?"

  "There's a TV I can see from here." Hailey went quiet again as the video abruptly shifted in tone.

  A gunshot, and then another, and suddenly the massacre was in full swing. The guard leaned forward, as if watching an exciting movie. Hailey felt sick, but tried to ignore it. She watched the golems, she watched as the reporter desperately tried to catch the action on his phone, even though people were dying all around him.

  "They're killing everyone out there…" Hailey murmured.

  "How bad?" asked Jefferson.

  "I don't know…"

  She saw Cinza and Makoto sprint past. Ruby was visible a few moments later with Hector, both absolutely terrified. People she knew, ducking bullets, throwing fire and objects, making shields and barriers, doing anything to hide from the hail of gunfire shredding the camp. It was utter chaos.

  If any of them… if they die out there while I'm stuck here…

  A wolf howled, and a girl darted across the screen accompanied by a huge chunk of wood. The camera tried to follow her for a moment, but it couldn't keep up, and there was no way anyone could identify her—anyone who didn't know her already.

  Even Natalie's there… and so's her dad if the golems are there. Oh my god…

  Eventually, the National Guard soldiers started showing up. The reporter kept trying to film them, but soldiers waved him off while they set up a perimeter and fired back at Brian's line. Finally, someone managed to scare him off, and the reporter signed off under the cover of a half-collapsed tent, returning it back to the CNN talking heads.

  I can't stay here.

  Hailey was halfway to the skylight window before Jefferson spoke up.

  "You can't go."

  "But—"

  "If you leave," said Jefferson slowly, "and you break out of custody here, you will never be free. They won't give you any kind of leniency the second time around, and nobody will be looking to cooperate anymore. You'll most certainly be in prison for decades, if not life."

   "They're dying," said Hailey, her voice cracking. "I just watched people get shot and killed. Massacred."

  "And it's a terrible tragedy," said Jefferson, shaking his head. He really did look sincerely in pain, which calmed Hailey down somewhat. "I've no doubt if you joined them, you could save some lives, but you've fought Mr. Hendricks and his forces before. You couldn't beat him. What's different now?"

  "I…" What's different is that Jessica's gone… so he's right. I'm even worse off now than I was.

  "Stay here. You're still doing good. You're setting precedent. We're creating a whole new legal system to handle the awakened and magic. It needs to be done right, and you're the perfect person to start with. Everything you did was with good intention and just motivations, and at the end of the day, you never seriously hurt anyone."

  "...I came really close," murmured Hailey. She took a step away from the skylight, and then another.

  Jefferson nodded. "Show them you've changed. Stay here."

  Hailey took a deep breath. She took one final step and sat back down in the chair. Jefferson sighed, and Hailey did right along with him. Neither of them spoke another word about it, getting back into the case, into Hailey's future trial, and all the challenges she'd face in the days to come.