The guards returned just as the silence had begun to settle over me.
"On your feet."
I rose slowly, the cuffs around my wrists clinking against each other.
"I thought the hearing wasn't for another half hour."
"It isn't."
"Then who now?"
Neither guard answered.
A shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.
He was perhaps in his late thirties, dressed in a charcoal-grey suit that looked entirely too expensive for Raven Hollow. A long black coat hung neatly over one arm, while a leather briefcase rested in the other hand. Round spectacles framed intelligent brown eyes that seemed to notice everything without appearing intrusive.
He stopped before my cell.
"So," he said pleasantly, "you're Night Carter."
I said "Yes." Trying so hard and failing to recognize the face.
He smiled. "I expected someone taller."
Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.
"I've been told that before."
The guard unlocked the outer barricade just enough for the man to step inside.
"I'm Percy Network."
He offered his hand instinctively before glancing at the cuffs around mine.
"...Right."
He smiled sheepishly and withdrew it.
"I'll settle for introductions."
I frowned. "Who are you?"
"I'm your solicitor."
"My..."
"The Black Colony requested legal representation the moment news of your arrest reached home."
I stared at him.
"My mother?"
"And the President among others. You are a foreigner on a scholarship, Night. The council must have your country's lawyer present."
Something inside me loosened.
For the first time since my arrest...
Home suddenly felt real.
"They actually sent someone."
"They sent me."
He rested his briefcase against the bars.
"And if I have anything to say about it, you'll be returning with me."
I almost smiled.
"You sound awfully confident."
"I have to."
He adjusted his spectacles.
"If lawyers panic before the trial, clients tend to follow."
I laughed softly. "I like you already."
"I usually have that effect."
He opened the briefcase.
Several thick folders lay inside, each filled with documents and notes.
"I've spent the last three hours reading every statute in the Tishian Treaty concerning interspecies relations."
"And?"
"And I dislike your odds."
The humour disappeared between us.
"So..." I whispered. "I'm going to die."
"No." His answer was immediate. "You might."
I frowned.
"There's a difference." He leaned slightly closer. "My job isn't to promise victory. It's to make sure they earn every inch of it."
I searched his face.
He wasn't offering false hope.
Oddly...
That made me trust him more.
"You know," he continued conversationally, "I've defended murderers."
I blinked.
"Tax fraudsters. Politicians."
I snorted.
"They're usually the hardest."
A smile tugged at my lips.
"But this..." He looked at me carefully.
"...this is the first time I've defended someone whose crime appears to be falling in love."
My eyes filled unexpectedly.
"I don't regret loving him."
"I suspected as much."
"I regret getting caught."
That earned another small smile.
"I suspected that too."
One of the guards cleared his throat impatiently.
"We leave in fifteen minutes."
Percy nodded without looking away from me.
"Tell me one thing, Night."
"What?"
"If they ask whether Jordan forced himself on you..."
I looked him straight in the eye.
"I won't lie."
He studied me for a long moment.
Then he sighed.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise."
He closed the briefcase.
"It simply means I'll have to work harder."
Footsteps echoed suddenly down the corridor.
Fast.
Urgent.
All three of us turned.
Professor Viviette Tom emerged from the darkness, still wrapped in the same hooded cloak.
She looked worn out and immensely tired.
"Mr Network?"
Percy frowned. "Yes?"
Without greeting either of us, Viviette thrust a thick bundle of handwritten pages into his hands.
"I've searched the restricted archives."
Percy's eyebrows rose.
"What is this?"
"My research."
He glanced down at the tightly packed pages.
There had to be over fifty of them.
"I don't understand."
"You don't have to." Viviette's voice was strangely calm. "Not yet."
She looked at me.
Then back at Percy.
"You'll understand before the hearing ends."
Percy frowned harder.
"I really don't like mysteries."
"Neither do I."
Viviette pulled the hood lower over her face.
"But history has a habit of disguising itself as one."
She turned to leave.
"Professor."
She stopped.
Without looking back, Percy lifted the manuscript slightly.
"Is this enough to save her?"
For a long moment...
Viviette said nothing.
Then, quietly,
"I don't know if it will save Miss Carter."
She finally looked over her shoulder.
"But it might condemn an entire century."
She disappeared into the shadows before either of us could ask another question.
Neither Percy nor I spoke.
He looked down at the thick manuscript in his hands.
Then at me.
"I suppose..."
He tucked it carefully into his briefcase.
"...I'll have some reading to do."
Outside the cell, a bell rang through Raven Hollow.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The hearing had begun.