"So is Hector gonna read the articles or something?" asked Ryan sarcastically, after nobody spoke for a few moments.

  Rachel shook her head. "You were right, the Council is done. Those were rules given to us, not those we set ourselves. We modified them, but the Gods were always influencing us. We need to establish how our world works. The new world."

  "And who's in your new fuckin' world?" asked Jeremy. "Not Hailey, I guess."

  "...Huh?" asked Hailey, glancing around confused.

  "Not the time, Jere-bear," said Maddie, with an uncomfortable glance at her brother.

  "Fuck that," Jeremy muttered. He settled back again, but there was definitely a new level of hostility between him and Rachel.

  "We're all fighting over things we could work out together," Rachel went on, a bit less confident than before. "No one is communicating anymore. The website is down—"

  "Because a spy infiltrated our home and abducted Lily," said Ruby hotly. She glared at Viper. "Who's going to answer for that?"

  "I am," said Viper in a flat tone. "I'm gonna get Cornelius put away for the rest of his life, God fuckin' forgive me."

  "Oh, I'm so sorry you've gotta put your billionaire friend behind bars for what you two did," snarled Rika. "Why the fuck is he here, Rachel?"

  "Because he's gonna get you out of prison," said Jeremy, "so back off a moment, all right?"

  Rika deflated a little. Rachel leapt back in at the opportunity, the gap in the argument, to try and steer them back to a more productive topic.

  "The trials for Rika and Hailey are all about perception. Right now, I have Courtney and Maddie's pollsters running stats on public opinion of us, of the awakened in general, and of Brian's following. We're not in the positive yet."

  "What does that mean?" asked Neffie.

  "Means people are fucking scared of us," said Ryan.

  "It means," said Rachel, "we're not in a comfortable position yet where Rika and Hailey would be cleared, or that we can fully rely on national support."

  "President Stafford seems pretty damn cozy with Cinza," said Jackie. "Ain't that a point in our corner?"

  "Stafford respects me," said Cinza. "That does not mean he is on our side."

  "She's right," said Maddie. "Stafford's only with us so long as he thinks it's politically valuable. The moment we're no longer sympathetic, he'll be against us."

  "As with any politician."

  "Jeez, let's not be too nice to our government," said Ryan.

  "I'd remind you, Cinza," said Courtney with admirable restraint, "that I am on your side."

  "Didn't stop him from stealing our home," said Ruby, glaring at Nate. A tiny gout of flame spat from her mouth at the emphasized word.

  Nate winced. "It's my home," he shot back. "I was born there. You weren't."

  "You weren't born in the Greywood!"

  "My grandparents owned all that!" Nate pointed at Courtney. "They took it from us illegally!"

  "And if you step foot there, I promise you a swift death," said Cinza.

  "Who the fuck cares who owns what?" said Rika. "They're living there, let them have it."

  "Spoken like a rich girl," muttered Ryan.

  "The fuck does that mean? I just said the money doesn't matter."

  "It's my home. I'm not giving it up," said Nate.

  "What if you just kept—" started Rachel, but Nate cut her off.

  "Not one inch. It belongs to me."

  "And did my journals belong to you as well?" asked Cinza, her tone deadly.

  Nate faltered. He raised a hand as if to ward her off, or maybe try to make another point. Regardless, he didn't speak another word, as the whole room seemed either suddenly very hostile to him—or not paying him one bit of attention.

  "Like it's gonna matter anyway," said Josh finally, "if we don't stop getting killed out here."

  "How many died?" asked Rachel.

  "Seventy nine, last I heard." He took a deep breath, and finally seemed to be a bit more awake and alert, back to his usual self. "And I know for a fact at least five of those weren't awakened. Probably more. They don't have a fucking code at all."

  "Like we can prove that," muttered Jeremy. "Do the stones even work on you if you're dead?"

  "Doubt it," said Josh with a shrug.

  "It doesn't matter," said Maddie. "Everybody knows that's his rhetoric. A few bad apples aren't gonna sway them, unless you can really put solid proof on it, or show Brian approved it somehow."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Nobody's even seen him on TV yet," Courtney pointed out. "He's a legendary figure right now. If we can push him into the open, we could start discrediting him."

  "Or we could just fucking kill him," said Rika. "Thought that was the plan, from what I heard."

  No…

  "...Are we really doing this again?" asked Neffie.

  "Excuse me, where have you been for six months?"

  "In hiding, same as you," said Alden quietly from the seat next to her.

  "...Right," said Rika. She visibly deflated. "Sorry."

  Neffie looked taken aback, but the space was quickly filled by another, as Jeremy spoke up.

  "I'm with her, and that was the fuckin' plan." He glanced around the room to Neffie. "Don't know who you are, but trust me, Hendricks had gotta die. I've seen him up close. He's insane."

  They must not be allowed to continue on this path.

  What am I supposed to do? They're the adults. I'm just a kid.

  You have not been a kid for a long time, Natalie. We must act.

  …I'm glad you're back.

  She took a breath and sat up in her chair.

  "No," she said, as clearly as she could.

  The whole room froze. Jeremy had been about to say something else, but he turned back to look at her. Rachel, too, seemed shocked, but Natalie didn't want to look at her. She didn't really want to look at any of them. They'd all left her, betrayed her, or abandoned her in some way or another. Natalie didn't hate them… but she didn't trust any of them.

  More importantly, she had no idea which of them were involved in the ritual beyond Cinza.

  "Natalie…" said Rachel hesitantly.

  She shook her head. "You won't hurt him."

  "We want to arrest him, but he's not gonna come clean," said Jeremy. "It's the only way."

  "Then I'll stop you," she said simply.

  "Some people just gotta die, kid," said Viper with a shrug. Hailey shot another glare at him, but he didn't back down. "My old man was a son of a bitch, and everyone in the world's better off with him not in it."

  "I don't care." I'm not gonna let anyone hurt him. Maybe he's done bad things. I've done bad things too. I got put in terrible places and had to kill people, and I don't think anybody here besides Cinza would understand. Maybe Dad has a good reason too. I can't know until I talk to him.

  We will protect him.

  "So what do you think we should do?" asked Josh, looking at her directly.

  Natalie hesitated. "...I don't know. But nobody touches my dad." She glanced at Cinza. "If I have to, I'll stop you again."

  "...What?" asked Hailey, glancing between the two of them.

  "Nothing," said Josh.

  "Like fuck it's nothing," snapped Rika. "What did you idiots do?"

  "They did the magnet thing again," said Natalie. "The ritual. They tried to kill dad."

  "We stopped," said Cinza.

  Only because we blocked it, Natalie pointed out, but she didn't want to say it aloud. She wasn't actually sure she could do it again—especially if they had more magic behind it—but if she acted like it wasn't a big deal, they'd think it was easy.

  Cinza already thinks I'm the most powerful…

  Use this to our advantage.

  Percy screeched on her shoulder as if in agreement, though of course, he couldn't hear the voice. Still, Natalie nodded as if he'd said something useful, while everyone winced at the loud hawk call in a tiny enclosed space.

  "It's her dad…" said Hailey uncomfortably. "Can't we…" She trailed off, and the silence that followed matched her own discomfort.

  "Let's go back to beating up Nate," said Ryan. "That was more fun."

  "The law's on my side," said Nate pathetically.

  Ryan rolled his eyes. "Natey, you missed the last summit, so I'll let you in on a little secret: we don't give a fuck about the rule of law in here."

  "Some of us do," said Courtney pointedly.

  "Convenient for the one writing the damn laws."

  "That's the legislature. I carry them out."

  "Thanks for the civics lesson," said Josh, "but we still need to figure out what we're going to do." He turned to Natalie, and she felt a sinking in her stomach. She'd always liked Josh, but… she knew he was going to ask, and she shook her head before he could even get the words out.

  "No."

  "...Natalie," he started anyway. "He's killing all of us. When he finds out you're awakened, there's no guarantee he won't kill you too."

  She shook her head. "He won't."

  "You don't know that."

  "I don't think this is the best course of action," said Boris, and for the briefest moment, Natalie thought someone was really on her side—until he went on. "Killing Mr. Hendricks will only create a martyr. A movement is more than one person, and he has created a true wave of insurrection. It will take much more than a simple swipe at the head."

  Even Boris thinks dad should die… he just doesn't think it'll help.

  Natalie stood up, and the whole room fell silent again.

  "Nobody hurts my dad," she repeated.

  No one answered, but Natalie didn't need an answer. She was going right back to the wreckage of Boris' shop in Rallsburg, where Riley was still watching the library. If anything, magical or mundane, approached the structure before she was ready, Natalie would stop it.

  Even if I have to kill them… I don't want to, but…

  We will do what we must.

  Nobody spoke as Natalie left—but when she stepped back down onto the cobblestone path, she heard the door swing open and closed behind her. She assumed it was Rachel at first, and didn't want to look back. Instead, she was surprised to hear the clipped, precise tones of Lily Laushire.

  "Where do you want to go?" she asked quietly.

  Natalie stopped. She didn't turn around yet, but she was sorely tempted. Lily had been a friend… until that night, until the Laushires became busy with their own lives and Natalie was left by the wayside. Until Natalie was cut off.

  Until yet another person abandoned her.

  "I want to go home," said Natalie.

  "Where's home?"

  "I don't know."

  Natalie turned back to face Lily. She looked upset—Natalie couldn't remember the last time she saw either of the Laushires upset. Suddenly, Natalie felt uncomfortable. Seeing an adult crying or emotional was always weird for her. They were supposed to be the stable ones. Except… Natalie had seen too many paranoid or emotional or simply distracted adults in the last few months. There were the rare exceptions, but Natalie didn't trust them anymore.

  I don't trust anyone anymore.

  It is for the best. All we can trust is ourselves.

  "I'm sorry," said Lily.

  Natalie didn't answer. Talking to Lily felt like more weakness now, and Natalie couldn't afford any weakness. Lily was one of the last people Natalie had ever relied on, after Rachel and her dad and so many others. When she'd been cut loose, she'd never been able to fully trust someone again. Even Quinn, whom she'd grown closer to than anyone else, she'd never been able to completely open up to.

  When Quinn left her, Natalie hadn't broken. Maybe she owed Lily for that ability, in some strange way. One betrayal allowed her to survive another.

  "My friends are in the Greywood," said Natalie quietly. "Can you make sure they're all right?"

  Lily hesitated. Natalie hated seeing her upset, but… they'd abandoned her too. Just like everyone else had.

  "...I'll make sure," she said finally.

  "How do I go back?"

  A door swung open, three exits away from where Natalie currently stood. With only a few reassuring words to Percy, who still didn't like going through the Laushire portals, Natalie walked back out again. She emerged right into the back room of Boris' little shop.

  Gwen gave her a look, as full of compassion as a wolf's face could get. Natalie fell right into her fur, burying her face. Above, she heard Riley ask for their password, and hurriedly called a response. But Natalie didn't move. She had a few minutes where she knew no one would be going after her dad… and all she wanted to do was run to him.

  Except they were right. He might kill her. Natalie wasn't even sure of that herself.

  She pressed in tight to Gwen's warm fur, wanting nothing more than to stay there, but knowing she didn't have long.

  We'll find out. We'll go to him, and if he tries, we stop him, but we're not going to let anyone else hurt him.