For those who were mainly involved without freak powers, they had their own separate hearing. Zane could tell from the small number of them that they had gathered that the freaks were more important in the case.

There were only five of them they wanted to hear from due to their names being mentioned. Besides himself, Hanna, Nelson, Yara, and Mark were the others on this smaller trial.

They had only answered small questions with the police, like most had, but he knew something was going wrong when the door busted open before the hearing even started.

"One of the freaks retrieved information," someone panicked.

All five of them just stared as one lawyer went over to speak to someone. Who could have information that they could exploit? Scarlett or Greyson? No, both have been slowly changing, but one person popped into his head.

"Eden," Zane said.

"Excuse the interruption," the lawyer named Brock said.

Their own lawyer had told them that it's mainly about what jobs you did and what you did during that time.

The police had been asking questions about what happened that day or about who caused the conflict. All five of them would be the most charged out of any of them, unless they did side charges for those less involved.

It's not even much of a court hearing, but a discussion on what led to Simcoe becoming ash. It's all to pass the blame on them for the ruins of everything that has happened.

"We'd like to call up Zane Wilson," Brock called.

He walked to the wooden stand. The courtroom was smaller, with fewer people or jurors, and it almost seemed like a practice.

"Zane, people recognize you as someone who stepped up when things got tough, along with helping at the fire department. What sort of things did you use for help?" Brock asked.

"I used the firehose when houses or buildings caught fire when we had electricity. I'd give resources like blankets and pillows to the daycare when it was still there," Zane admitted.

In the beginning, he was the head of the fire department, but things started to change when Jason stepped down. He then led things through, like creating the trenches, putting together the best groups, and stating some laws.

"So, you're admitting that you have used stuff from people's houses that you didn't even know?"

"I've admitted it because if I hadn't, we'd be burned to death by snow or fires. I've carried bodies to be buried or dug trenches so people could stay warm when we were staring death in the face. There was a lot of blood, lungs, intestines, and urine to dump out as well."

People in the small crowd looked sick talking about the illness. Inflammatory Death could have killed him, but he was one of the lucky survivors. Even if it had been difficult fighting through everything, he had been the one person they would turn to for advice.

"And this was during the storm your peers have talked about?" Brock asked.

"I'll admit I've had to make cement blocks to block large holes that killed many children," Zane stated.

"A lot of you were driving underage, since the legal age in Canada is sixteen with an adult. We've heard about gun use and have caught pictures."

There was a television rolled out as Brock tapped the screen. It flashed to a picture of Eden with a gun and her innocent smile. He then pulled up a video recording of the day the deadly fight of Ashley, Divina, and Cassandra occurred. People have recorded them burning in the sky while zooming in on those holding weapons like guns.

"I've had to bury many who were shot. If we didn't have weapons, most of us would be dead," Zane said.

"That's all," Brock said, turning off the television.

He knew this court hearing would be short compared to the ones with the freaks, where it could go on for ages with it all looping back to Ashley, Divina, and the substance.

If Bella hadn't been the sacrifice, she'd be talking about everything at Uden or what happened with Eden that sent her to isolation. Many would be here, but sacrifices had to be made for them all.

"I'd like to call Hanna Bevan," Brock said.

Hanna stood gracefully, walking to the stand to stare at the man with a flat expression. She didn't seem impressed with how everything was going or even Brock's behaviour as a lawyer.

"Hanna, you didn't start helping until later on, when this storm started. What types of jobs did you have to do?" Brock asked.

"I gave medication and helped with the burns. There were some things I couldn't help, such as one girl going through drug withdrawals," Hanna stated.

Ilya was struggling through that when she constantly went to the infirmary. Nobody knew how to help someone because they weren't nurses. Emma couldn't magically heal her, and refusing drugs didn't work due to a drug dealer roaming.

"Where did all this medication come from?" Brock asked.

"Not a clue. They had mainly been there when I arrived, maybe from the pharmacy or homes," Hanna said.

Brock looked suspiciously at her, as if she had admitted to murder. Hanna would have been one who wouldn't have broken a law, unless they counted using cold medication as drugs.

"We've heard you ruled out the overdose from illegal drugs. Did you know how Ilya took those drugs?" Brock asked.

Nobody knew except the crackhead herself who has illegal drugs. One whose mind lived in space but could get away with a crime with ease.

"I didn't until Zane told me after Ilya overdosed," Hanna stated.

The overdose cast a shadow over the daycare and those who had used drugs wrongly. It was dangerous, but Layla got them and overdosed just like Ilya.

Zane didn't know if Ilya's death was a suicide, but he assumed it was not due to her drug addiction. It's a dark topic, and they shouldn't have had to learn from how young all of them were.

Then again, Mia knew about drug smuggling when she was twelve. Older ones know the dangers, but once you have an addiction, it's hard to pull that away, and they had nobody who knew.

"We did some research on the drug they had shown us, and it ended up being Xanax," Brock implied.

It was said Mia is a drug dealer, but Zane assumed she didn't take the drugs but used them for money. If she buys and deals, she'd know a wide range of what she could give.

"You'd have to ask whoever dealt them about the drugs, because I wasn't the seller," Hanna said flatly.

"Yes, but did you have any interactions with Mia Ortiz giving the infirmary drugs?" Brock inquired, his eyebrows raised.

"No, Mia never gave anything to the infirmary. Everyone knew she was a dealer and that her drugs could be lethal," Hanna said.

Brock nodded with a sly grin before tripping backwards.

"Mr. Ross, are you okay?" the female judge asked.

Zane knew it wasn't pure tiredness that caused him to trip. He had seen him drinking coffee before this whole thing started and looked wide awake.

"Why's everything spinning?" Brock mumbled, gripping the wooden table for support.

Was his ambush on Hanna motivated by Mia's drugs? Zane knew that Mia's drugs had been burned in the fire at Uden, but she can be rationally smart when it comes to drugs.

Brock then fell to the ground, his coffee still on the polished table. People from the small crowd panicked while someone called an ambulance.

"There's a drug in his coffee," someone said.

Well, Zane never expected someone in a courtroom to be drugged.

"Let's take a break," the judge called.

They all piled out of the room. The five of them huddled in a circle to see paramedics and police rushing inside the courtroom.

"I bet he got drugs from Mia," Hanna whispered. "He keeps asking questions about her drugs, but it's not that I know anything."

Zane looked over to see that the second break from the freaks' meeting had entered. He walked over to them as the others scurried behind him as Jason knitted his eyebrows.

"You guys are already on your break?" Jason asked.

"The one lawyer passed out from drugs," Yara said.

"I had someone ask me what some drug did, but I lied," Mia whispered with a laugh. "They were sleep medications that Eden used on the housewife."

"Did you sell them?" Zane asked.

"Nope, but I know drugs like a dictionary," Mia breezed.

"They finished some statements, but adults are tense. Eden kept that hospital information about Ashley, and they are all stressed," Jason said.

Zane watched Mia stumble back over to Eden, who was wearing handcuffs.

"Doesn't that get us a breakthrough? It basically admits none of this was our fault," Nelson said.

"They are having Bella's mom speak next. Nevaeh is basically hearing everything, which is that they definitely want Greyson and me charged, along with the crackheads," Jason sighed.

"I thought they had to decide as one big group who is and isn't facing charges?" Yara inquired.

"It's about what they admit for damage, but we'd have to pay millions for all the destruction in Simcoe," Zane stated.

"Highlighter, our trial isn't done yet," Bryce called.

They watched River stiffly walk in the opposite direction of where the freak courtroom was located.

"They want to have my court hearing," he trembled.

Were they even allowed to pull someone out of a court hearing for a different one?

"Get the money so we can get Dairy Queen afterward!" Mia called.

They'd be one court hearing worse than the freaks and the helpers. Zane knew that openly talking about dead bodies is a different field.

River is going against his own mother because Cassandra uploaded a memory to the police officers that they vividly saw in their minds.

"I hope he'll be okay. He is probably one of the most talked about as well," Yara said sadly.

Their lawyer came over to tell them it was fine to go back in. There wouldn't be anything more eventful that Zane could think of, unless they admit that it's the pharmacy's fault in Simcoe.

When they walked back in, there was a different lawyer instead of Brock. Zane assumed they didn't have time to start an investigation but put it on using drugs.

"We'll start where we left off," the judge said.

Zane wasn't sure if it would get them anywhere other than information about charges and jail time.

River sat outside a courtroom with a male lawyer named Louis. It was one of Cecile's lawyers in the past, but he had left or gotten fired. He didn't know who, other than he wanted to help him fight.

This wasn't something that could be paid off because people say the vivid memory came from Cassandra's abilities. That's why he saw some of the police officers from that day, but his body still shook.

"River, I know this is very stressful for you. You have to state what happened and any other signs of harshness or strange attraction your mother had done," Louis explained.

It wasn't just stress; it was terror. He kept his head in his hand and bounced his knee. Every memory from those days flashed back to when his eating disorder took control of him. He fixed that himself when Cecile had been gone, but she told him not to eat big portions of junk food. She sexually assaulted him when she was intoxicated, and he could do nothing but tremble and cry.

The doors to the courtroom opened as he looked up. Even if he had gained trust from others and found the love he needed, this still scared him.

River slowly stood, but his legs felt like noodles as he looked around at Cecile's staff, some of whom he remembered and others whom he didn't know. When he saw her, she had a glare as he collapsed onto his chair. She had handcuffs on despite not being arrested. Nevaeh's father was there, along with some fashion designers or past models.

"All rise!" the male judge called.

River had to use the table to stand. Being in the freaks' trial was stressful with the crowd, but here he wanted to hide in a hole.

"You may be seated," the judge said.

River bounced his leg under the table. He didn't want to do this, but he wanted Cecile behind bars for what she did.

He was a child who could be handed millions of dollars with at least four houses from different areas. The cottage, a mansion in Toronto, and two beach houses in Hawaii and Cuba. There were jets, airplanes, and limos that could be handed to someone who hated modelling.

"We're here today in the case of Cecile Dunlop and claims of sexual assault and child abuse against her son," the judge started.

Cecile's lawyer, Tori, stood, whom River knew. She had been one of the ones intoxicated that night after a fashion show at the afterparty in the cottage.

"We'd like to call River Dunlop," Tori said, as he widened his eyes. He wobbled and stood, avoiding looking at her until he got to the stand. "River, we want to know what you remember from that night at the summer party when that incident happened."

"There were a lot of people drunk after a celebration at some show in Toronto. I remember having cake because it was my birthday the next day, on June 8th. There was dancing and snacks mainly," he said.

They wanted to do a celebration that night, which was a rare thing they did. It was mainly because the line was so successful and that they did an amazing job on the runway.

"People said they saw you leave with your mother. Was this because you were tired?" Tori asked.

He could physically feel his hands shaking, so he clenched them. "Some staff told me to bring her to her room because she vomited," he admitted.

"What else happened after that?" Tori asked.

River felt his heart racing as he pressed his lips together.

"I brought her to her room, but..." His voice trembled as he felt everything flash in his mind. "She pinned me to the wall with my arms over my head. When I asked her what she was doing, she..."

River felt tears in his eyes that made him feel physically sick. He could remember it all like some nightmare he tried to avoid thinking about.

"She started removing my clothes and..." he whimpered but shook his head.

Tears streamed down his cheeks because it was all scarring. The bubble had memories that were haunting, but the sexual assault broke something inside of him.

"Your honour, I think that's enough from him," Louis called.

"We'll answer more questions later," Tori said.

He wobbly stood and rubbed his hands over his face. When he sat, he put his face on the table because it was all so vivid.

Was Tori doing that on purpose, or did she want Cecile behind bars? He could barely deal with a girl poking him when everything started because of what his mother did.

"I'd like to call Roger Bolton to the stand," Louis called."Roger, word is you were one of those who claimed the whole memory as your own from Cassandra Newman-Russell, correct?" Louis asked.

Cassandra had somehow used Nevaeh's ability of mind reading along with her own power to transport a truth she knew into those police officers minds.

"Every single bit of what River has explained is far more explicit," Roger stated.

"Would you classify that memory you gained as sexual assault?" Louis asked.

"I've done my fair share of investigations into sexual assault, but from what I can see from what Cassandra uploaded, everything meets what River explained," Roger said."It seems they were in a master bedroom in the cottage before she pinned him to the wall and proceeded with the rest."

"Thank you," Louis said.

River still felt his body trembling because he didn't know what they could use against him as false. They probably had edited pictures that showed lies instead of the truths he told.

"I'd like to call up Joyce Walters," Tori said.

River knew who that was. It was one of Cecile's models who would lie out of any problem. She once lied about knowing the truth about his eating disorder just because he wanted to protect Cecile's reputation, not his safety.

"Joyce, did you know if Cecile was abusing her son?" Tori asked.

"Cecile always acted kind to her son when I saw the two together," Joyce said.

River looked down at the brown table because that was an image. In front, she had to seem like that caring parent that did everything for him, but not behind the scene.

"About that party before the incident happened, did you see Cecile getting drunk?" Tori asked.

River remembered from that party that they were in the kitchen doing shots together.

"No, I don't," Joyce said.

"If I may, Joyce," Louis started. "People at the party claimed you were doing vodka shots with Cecile in the kitchen. Is this true?"

"Yes, but I was only a little tipsy," Joyce admitted.

River remembered her passing out on the kitchen floor and their maid having to guide her to the downstairs bedroom.

"Thank you," Tori said.

"I'd like to call Nick Wincliff," Louis said.

River knew that he was their technology guy for the house. This included updating televisions and other devices to the latest version.

Louis pressed on the television screen that was beside him to play a video that was present. It was in black and white from an angle and zoomed away.

"Nick, you are often the one who provides video cameras for the house and rooms for security, right?" Louis asked.

"Yes, I make sure that all rooms are safe, and I catch any videos or pictures if anything suspicious happens," Nick said.

"Nick here has provided a security tape he found during that week to check if anything suspicious happened," Louis started as he pressed for the tape to start. "We are keeping it muted."

River stared at the table when he saw himself in the room, bringing Cecile inside it. He shut his eyes because he didn't need to see a video, but others needed to know.

One thought then crossed River's mind: were the security tapes were on during The Bubble? No, that couldn't be possible because they took them down after that party strangely, and that's why Nick got fired. It all clicked together because Cecile must've paid him off to keep quiet. This video shows that his side is true of everything he had experienced.

Louis stopped the video. River slowly glanced up, looking the opposite way from the television. It was tense, because that was enough proof from a single video.

"Why didn't you bring this to the police?" Louis asked.

"Cecile paid me not to because she knew I would find out from the security cameras guarding the rooms and houses," Nick explained.

"How much did she pay you?"

"Fifty thousand dollars."

River stared, stunned. That much money for a single video that exposed her crime. Wait, doesn't that mean that's a crime as well? He didn't know the laws, but isn't that just covering up a crime from being exposed?

"River, I'd like to ask you something," the judge started as he flinched and looked up. "Did you give your mother's consent to what she did?"

He didn't, because he couldn't. Even if he tried pushing her arms away or trying to get away, it didn't work. People are there to support and get Cecile out of this, but there is no way out of it.

"Jury, I'd like you to make your call," the judge said.

Was it this quick? Isn't Cecile supposed to talk and hear her side, or have they made their decision because she's famous?

"We have," one male stood and cleared his throat, holding a piece of paper in hand."We find Cecile Dunlop guilty of sexual assault, child abuse, and hush money."

"Wait, I'm supposed to go on the stand!" Cecile exclaimed as she stood from her chair.

River had thoughts spinning in his head, but his body felt frozen. Was it because he had to fill out that victim's statement? They knew they were charging her, but they wanted more proof.

"Due to Cecile's arrest, everything that she owns goes to you," Louis started.

"I'm fifteen..." River trailed.

He thought Mia was lying about him getting all of his mother's money. Then again, the crackheads knew the law backwards, and they can be smart when they want to be.

"Yes, but you'll be given cards, and all those boats and cars will be yours, but you won't be able to drive them until you're sixteen or once you get your license," Louis explained.

Louis handed him a debit card as he stared at it. It had his name imprinted, as he widened his eyes. All of the millions of dollars are his own, along with everything else his mother owned.

"What about Cecile's fashion line?" River asked.

"You can either own the company or do whatever you want with it," Louis said.

They slowly walked out of the courtroom, but he could care less about his mother's fashion line.

"Get rid of it," River spat.

He didn't need that stain anymore because she had lied her way through the years about everything. He was forced to do that modelling, which did include starving himself at times because of it.

"Okay, I'll call some people. Was there anything else you'd like to know?" Louis asked.

"Am I allowed to put a proposal to build condos?" River asked. "I want to do something for those that don't have parents coming to get them. I want to do this because they helped me in there."

It was a plan he had in mind that Nevaeh helped him with. So many people have helped him when he thought he couldn't trust anyone.

Louis brushed a hand through his black hair, searching in thought. "I'd have to talk to investors, but it's your money. It's important that you don't use it carelessly. Plus, it's about the court's decision with your friends for charges."

River knew he could still face charges for Simcoe's destruction, but he had money. He didn't want to spend it carelessly on buying cool cars or fancy clothes, but on other things.

"You should get back to your hearing," Louis said.

River nodded, turned, and felt tears stream down his cheeks because it was really true this time. Cecile was going to be gone for good. She wouldn't be yelling at him, scolding him for the eating disorder, or criticizing him.

When he pushed open the one door, he spotted Nevaeh on the stand. Her frown cracked into a smirk as the people stared. He brushed his tears away, holding up the card.

"Way to go, Highlighter! Everyone cheer!" Mia exclaimed in the quiet room.

Nobody clapped, but Will just started laughing as most seemed shocked.

He quickly walked over, wiping his face and sliding the card into his pocket. Nevaeh climbed down from the stand to see Bella's mother walking up to answer the looming questions and tell the truth.

If there were charges, he could pay them off. They were so rich that even the whole destruction of the Simcoe would be little compared to their money. Yet he wanted to be a regular teenager who'd go to fast food places or return the favour to those that helped him through everything. That's why he wants to build condos for the people who won't be coming to get them or for those who don't want to live with their parents.

All of it felt unreal, like a dream. His mother, who led him to an eating disorder or a crime that challenged most of his behaviour, is going to be behind bars.

How was this all real? It was dreams he had since the assault that left him trembling, and he feared facing Cecile when he modelled.

"You did it," Cindy whispered in his ear. He looked at her with a nod. Everything that he wanted had finally come true.

Our Highlighter got the justice he needed!

Did you think Bella's mother will admit the truth about the substance?