In Seattle, as on the roads through Olympia and Tacoma before it, their vehicle practically stopped traffic wherever it went. No one had seen it until this day. Ruby watched them through the gap in the curtains, which only appeared one way, and reveled in their reactions.

  "They're all watching us!" she said, peering around excitedly. "Look how excited everyone is!"

  "Excitement can lead to many things," murmured Cinza, her eyes closed. She'd taken a nap during the highway stretch, while Ruby watched the cars go by. "We should not linger."

  Makoto nodded from the front seat. They'd opened the curtain between the two after their initial conversation—and to Ruby's relief, he seemed totally back to his usual self. Any awkwardness had completely vanished. Maybe it was the potentially hostile environment, but Ruby hoped he'd already gotten over that morning.

  Please, please be over it already… I need to go back to us being friends. We spend almost all our time together…

  As a crowd chased them down sidewalks, cameras flashing, and a newschopper circled overhead, Makoto took them directly to the front steps of the building. The whole carriage thumped as they drove straight onto the sidewalk, scattering the crowd in front of them. He brought them to a smooth halt.

  The staircase embedded in the side extended down to the ground. Cinza took a moment to prepare herself, shifting her hair back to the bright silvery-grey, before opening the curtain.

  A gasp echoed through the crowd. Ruby fought the urge to giggle. Well duh, who did you expect in something like this?

  She followed her love out, only a few steps behind. A confused valet stepped forward, hand outstretched. Ruby smirked and shook her head, while Cinza continued forward into the building, head high, ignoring the shouts and camera flashes around them.

  As soon as the two of them entered the lobby, they were surrounded by Secret Service agents, black-suited and radios one and all.

  "I'm here to see the President and Miss DuValle," said Cinza abruptly. "Take me to them."

  The two agents who seemed to be in charge glanced at each other. Finally, one stepped away, talking briefly into her headset. Cinza waited, perfectly still. Ruby felt like fidgeting, but she resisted, wanting to put up the some implacable front as her leader. After a minute or so, the agent returned, looking vaguely confused.

  "Come with us."

  They were led deeper into the hotel, past various rooms and corridors into the conference suites. As they got closer, more agents appeared, like an entire army concealed within the building. A sense of giddiness threatened to overwhelm her with every passing step. Agents were all over, they were deep inside a super-nice four-star hotel, and Cinza had been ordering them around like it was nothing.

  I'm actually going to meet the President. Like… I knew she had, and saw it on TV even, but… I'm actually here. This is amazing.

  Sure enough, they approached a final set of double doors, with fully-equipped marines flanking it. A wave of nervous energy rocked through her. Ruby nearly tripped over her cloak. She grasped Cinza's hand to steady herself. Cinza looked over at her and smiled.

  "It's okay," she murmured, and from the faint tingle of magic in the air, Ruby knew only she could hear. "We're in control here, not them. They will not harm us."

  Ruby nodded. She tightened her grip for just a moment, then let go, so that Cinza could walk slightly ahead, fulfill the leadership role she was meant for.

  The doors swung wide to admit them. Ruby gasped. Besides the people, the room itself was richer than any she'd ever seen. From the handsome mahogany table to the beautiful chandeliers, the place certainly lived up to the pricey hotel outside. She spotted more than a few designs to remember for decorating their own meeting hall when they returned to the Greywood.

  Seated around the conference table inside was Rachel DuValle herself, along with a dreadlocked blonde girl Ruby didn't know. Nearby, the state governor and her sister who were at the Summit, the President, and a few other people she didn't recognize. They wore a wide range of expressions—some annoyed, some curious, and most just confused.

  The marines shut the doors behind them, and suddenly, the room was conspicuously silent.

  "This is an unexpected honor," said the President finally. He smiled, that winning grin which didn't seem at all like a fake politician's smile. That's why I would've voted for him… if I could. He seems like a real guy. I'll be eighteen next year. Maybe I'll vote for him… assuming the world still does that in a year and a half. "Welcome, Cinza."

  Cinza frowned. "As before, we do not meet under a banner of honor, Mr. President." Before anyone could respond, her head snapped around to face Rachel. "Words have been spoken which must be accounted for."

  Rachel, to her credit, didn't recoil an inch. "I stand by them. The perpetrators committed a crime and must turn themselves in."

  "They're awakened," snapped Ruby.

  Cinza took her hand, but didn't let up, nor contradict her. "They are, and they struck out in revenge after a miscarriage of justice by your government. They did not hurt him, nor touch him in any way, merely destroyed that which was wrongfully earned. Can such a thing truly be condemned?"

  "It's vigilantism," said the governor. Courtney, I think. Ruby had only met her the once, and hadn't paid much attention to state politics even when she did still live in their world. "We already went through this with Hailey Winscombe. It can't happen."

  She shook her head. "That is another atrocity of your legal system. Hailey Winscombe is a hero and should not have been subjected to such humiliations. Using Bethany Silverdale against her was despicable."

  "The woman volunteered for that," said a handsome guy near the President. He stood up to emphasize his enthusiastic defense. "We didn't even go looking for her. She hates Hailey."

  "And you as a responsible government decided to let a clearly biased and distraught woman fling emotional abuse at a captive audience in your custody," Cinza shot back. "I have not forgiven you for that."

  "Cinza," said Stafford patiently, gesturing at his staff to sit down. "If it's any consolation, I instructed my Attorney General to forego such tactics in the future. While Hailey's trial is now being carried out in absentia, of course, we will ensure nothing of the sort occurs with Miss Nishimura's."

  Like Rika wouldn't just throw it right back at them. Ruby smiled slightly. Those tactics wouldn't work on her in the slightest.

  "To the more immediate matter," continued the President, "I agree that Rachel's statement was hastily given. It wasn't cleared by my communications department and should not be considered the official position of the government at this time."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "So you agree this was a just act by persecuted individuals, and should be left to its own devices."

  Stafford frowned. "In all honesty, despite being off-the-cuff, I felt Rachel gave a fair assessment of our expected position. We sympathize with these individuals and would offer them the lightest possible sentence, but we can't simply ignore the rule of law, Cinza."

  "Some in your position would do exactly that, and quite gleefully," said Cinza coldly.

  "And he's not one of them," the staffer next to him shot back.

  "If I may," said another nearby quietly, straightening his glasses.

  "Wesley?" asked Stafford, silencing the other man momentarily.

  "Cinza, I would be happy to offer these people sanctuary and clemency," said Wesley, "but the fact is, this may not be an isolated incident."

  "Explain," said Cinza, not nearly as harshly as before.

  "We've been tracking several similar incidents across the Pacific Northwest, both in Oregon and Washington. This was the most dramatic and the highest profile target, but there's an increase in thefts on suspected or known former members of Brian Hendricks' organization. There may be a vigilante awakened group forming in the region."

  "One instance of revenge against the ringleader is something," added Courtney. "A pattern of thefts and terror-like acts is another. We can't let one terrorist group fall only for another to rise in return."

  Cinza frowned. "You would equate us?"

  "Of course not," said Rachel, finally jumping back in. "But it still qualifies as terrorism. Whoever they are, they're using magic to spread fear and push their message. We want to stop this before it gets bigger."

  "And you did so much to stop Mr. Hendricks," snapped Ruby before she could stop herself.

  Stafford nodded gravely. "You're right. We failed. We underestimated the threat and your people paid the price. I wish I had acted sooner. But if I can't learn from my mistakes, I'm not the leader my people elected. I'll do better: for you, for the awakened, and for the American people. None of us should have to live in fear."

  After a long pause, in which everyone watched for Cinza's reaction. That sounded really good… but it also sounded a lot like a politician. Cinza's talked to him a lot, I haven't. She'd know if he was being for real or not.

  Finally, Cinza nodded. She took a seat at the table, in one corner where no one sat nearby. "What do you plan?"

  "Well," said Maddie, "first we gotta figure out who they are." She frowned. "Actually, we were plannin' to get somebody out to ask you if you had any idea."

  "I do not."

  And we probably wouldn't tell you if we did… added Ruby in her head.

  "What's our last estimate on the population?" asked the President, glancing at Wesley. "Four thousand?"

  "Somewhere in there," said Wesley with a nod.

  "Not a huge group to search," said the other staffer.

  "Unless they aren't all awakened," pointed out Rachel. "They might have allies."

  "How did you come to that number?" asked Cinza, glancing between them.

  Rachel fell uncomfortably silent, but someone else was there to fill the gap. "We've been surveying demographics," said the staffer. "Making scans, calculating statistics, and trying to account for your population."

  As he said the word, the room got ice-cold. Cinza's eyes were blazing in an instant.

  "And how," she started, her voice thick with suppressed fury, "did you scan them?"

  The staffer faltered. Rachel suddenly jumped back in, her voice confident and assured once more. "We have the stones."

  Cinza's gaze whipped around to meet hers. "You used them."

  "Yes. They're a valuable tool and we have no idea how to recreate the magic yet. The DTA lab will begin studying them soon to try and break down the effect."

  It made some sense, of course, that they wanted to figure it out. Nobody knows how to enchant things with permanent spells… Just Kendra, Lily and Jackson. Then Lily taught us how to do it after Kendra kept it for so long. It really helped us take care of the whole pilgrim camp… I wonder if that's why she taught us.

  "You used his tools," Cinza said, her voice still low and furious. "Objects created for the purpose of committing hateful genocide, and you used them on unsuspecting awakened to track them."

  "We're taking a census," shot back the staffer. "Something we're compelled to do by the law, in fact. These demographics are useful."

  "He's not wrong," added Wesley, his quiet voice a massive contrast from the enthusiastic staffer. "Knowing the scale of our awakened population is incredibly valuable, especially if it begins to grow again."

  "It hasn't even been a full month," said Cinza, "and the monsters who murdered us walk free, while our erstwhile allies use their implements of terror on us without our consent."

  "Cinza—" started Courtney, but Rachel talked over her.

  "It was my call," she said firmly, facing Cinza. "You've trusted in my decisions before. Trust in this one, too. These are useful tools despite their origin, and allowed us to build a population estimate painlessly. Nuclear science came from terrible weapons. We could learn great things. I admit using them as a census tool might have been a misstep, but what do you want from us? To destroy them?"

  "Yes," Cinza said simply.

  "We can't just destroy them," said Maddie.

  "You aren't awakened," snapped Ruby.

  The room stiffened. Ruby faltered, unsure if she'd gone too far. Cinza didn't exactly support Ruby's statement as she went on, but neither did she contradict her.

  "I was led to believe the stones would be kept solely for research and to track down the remaining members of Brian's terrorist cells," said Cinza in a very controlled, even tone. "This is completely different, and absolutely unacceptable."

  "But they don't even affect you—" started the staffer, but Stafford raised a hand to stop him.

  "I'm sorry," said Stafford. "We made a mistake in not consulting you."

  "So you will destroy them?" asked Cinza without missing a beat.

  "Every stone will remain within the DTA's research lab for study. If they are ever to be used again, we will consult with you first, except in cases of extreme emergency." Stafford tried to offer a smile again, but this time, Ruby could tell it was forced. "Is that amenable?"

  Cinza shook her head. "You have already broken our trust once. I cannot yet grant it a second time."

  She stood up from the table. Rachel and Stafford did the same, and the rest of the room followed shortly afterward. Without another word, Cinza turned and swept out of the room, Ruby only a few steps behind. The same agents who'd escorted them from the lobby were waiting just outside. They scrambled to their feet as Cinza emerged.

  "We are leaving," she said abruptly, striding past them without another word.

  The agents hurried to catch up—which really wasn't hard, given how short Cinza's legs were—and soon enough, they were more than halfway out of the hotel.

  "I can't believe them," murmured Ruby. "Why won't they destroy the awful things? Haven't they done enough?"

  "They believe some good can come out of such evil," said Cinza. She sighed. "In most cases, I might believe the same. I've known many people to turn from terrible lives to wonderful ones, and make mistakes along the way. But these are not people, these are objects. Their creator was irredeemable, and their purpose in creation was the same."

  "So you think they're all wrong."

  "I think they are all naïve and will make the same foolish mistakes again, to all our detriment." Cinza picked up the pace slightly. "I wish to go home. I've had enough of their world already."

  "Same," muttered Ruby—though, in truth, she had enjoyed the rest of the trip. It had been a long time since she came out into the mundane world. The last time was for Jessica's funeral, and before that, to help rescue Hailey and Alden from the bar in Tacoma. She liked seeing it again, though she absolutely would never live out here.

  The Greywood remained, and forever would be, her home. Ruby would always want to return there.

  Except, as they reached the hotel and saw the waiting officers, she realized something far worse—she might not get the chance.

  The officers were normal police, two of them plus a plain-clothed individual, and as soon as Ruby walked in, they were looking at her. Not at Cinza, as with the rest of the crowd, but at Ruby. She knew it instantly.

  They were there for her.

  "Cin…" she whispered.

  "Hm?" Cinza looked around, and immediately spotted the approaching officers. In a second, she'd placed herself between them and Ruby. Makoto was outside the glass doors, watching with a worried expression—and Ruby wished he were there with them, the grounding pillar of their trio, their firm shield against the outside world.

  But he was outside, surrounded by a mob, and they were not.

  "Miss Cinza," said the lead officer politely, "may we speak with your companion?"

  "Go right ahead," said Cinza, in no uncertain terms.

  The two officers glanced at each other for a moment. One of them looked like he was considered kneeling down, as if to speak to a child. If he did that, Cinza would walk away right now.

  "We'd like to speak to her alone, please," said the other officer.

  "About what?"

  "Well…" The officer glanced at the third person in the group again, then back to Cinza. "To be frank, there's a warrant out for her arrest."