"Hey, wake up!" a sharp voice growled. "Room service."

Katie opened her eyes, her vision blurred, her mind hazy. The man pushed the tray inside and promptly closed the door, chortling at his own joke. Unlike the cells upstairs, these ones weren't soundproof. She slowly sat up, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes, and looked at the tray. It was soup and bread along with a banana that looked a little too ripe. But her stomach growled hungrily at the sight of it, so Katie picked it up and ate. The soup was stone cold and turned out to be fish soup, which she didn't like.

Ugh, it tastes even worse cold...

But she wasn't in a position to be picky, so she grit her teeth.

"Thanks," she said, though she wasn't sure he heard her.

She had soon wolfed down the meagre meal and pushed the tray away with a dejected sigh. She heard footsteps and glanced up as a shadow came down the stairs. The shape grew larger, the footsteps louder. Soon, someone came into view.

"Oh, hey there, Ronald," the guard by Katie's door said.

"Hello, Dan. All right down here?"

"Yeah, nothing to report. She's a quiet one, this one."

They peered at her through the small hole in the door. She looked back at them. Their features were slightly obscured, but she could just make them out. One was a redhead, tall but thin, with freckles visible even in the dark. The other was shorter but slightly wider, bulkier, with short black hair and a stern face. Both wore the emblem of the White Guard, but not their actual uniform. Katie supposed they were the reserve. Kept on hand if the White Guard was too busy, and avoiding wasting resources on tasks like guarding prisoners.

"What did she do again?" asked Dan, the redhead.

"Didn't you hear?" This was the one called Ronald, the dark haired one, speaking. "Apparently, she got into a massive fight with her boyfriend, the son of the Silverwolf leader, and they used magic in an Unspelled street."

"Really?" Dan snorted. "Kids today, I ask you..."

"That's not what happened," Katie said before she could stop herself.

The guards froze, exchanged a look, then turned back to her.

"What was that?" the one named Ronald demanded.

"I said that's not what happened," Katie said coolly. "Not at all."

Ronald took a few steps forwards and leaned against the glass door, staring at Katie.

"Oh, yeah? Well what do you claim happened, then?"

"We were attacked," Katie said evenly. "By the same person, we believe, who killed Victor Dawson and Georgia Walsh."

They looked at her, then burst out laughing.

"Yeah, that'd be convenient, wouldn't it?"

"It's the truth!" Katie replied.

"Save your breath," Dan retorted. "We're not interested."

"You're the ones who asked me what had really happened, remember?" Katie retorted. "I just answered your question."

The guards snorted and turned away.

"Well, I'm off," Dan said. "Good luck with her."

"Didn't you say she was quiet?"

"Until now..."

Katie rolled her eyes as she lay down. She couldn't use magic without having it rebound against her, what kind of threat could she be?

After half an hour, though, she was still too wound up to rest. She tossed and turned in every possible direction, trying to find a position comfortable enough to sleep. Her squabble with the guards was long forgotten, even if it had irked her. But something had occurred to her thanks to them. That trial had smelled very fishy. They had seemed a little too happy to use the argument excuse to lock her up, especially when Loran had tried to put in that there should have been a third person. What bothered her was that the Council had been so adamant in stating there was no third person. She could only think of two reasons for that. The first was that thanks to the two people whose magic they'd drained, the Red Cloak had now gained sufficient power to conceal their magic, which would explain their absence in the reports despite her and Luke's testimony.

There was no proof to their story. But that theory was only the least disturbing one. Another possibility was slithering around in Katie's mind. If her first theory was wrong, then that meant that something even more sinister was going on. The only explanation she could think of was that there had in fact been three energies, but that the third person was being covered for, possibly by a member of the Council itself, though who, why or how, she had no idea. But there was nothing to help her decide if it was one or the other. All she could say for sure was that it seemed she and Luke had stumbled into something much bigger than they'd ever thought.

But what am I supposed to do stuck in here...? Or when... when I'm Dispelled...?

She shuddered at the thought. Her parents had never told her exactly how a Dispelling occurred, or how it worked.

"It'll only give you nightmares if we tell you how it works, Katiora," they would say. "Suffice it to say you don't want it to happen to you."

No, Katie certainly didn't. But she wasn't exactly given a choice, right now. But aside from the prospect of dying, Katie couldn't help thinking about the effects it would have if she survived. She would be shamed in front of every warlock. Her father might even be kicked of out of his position to avoid riots within the clans. Being stripped of your magic was humiliating enough, but everyone else would look down on her. That was if she survived at all. They didn't try and end the person's life with the Dispelling, but they probably didn't try all that hard to prevent it from happening, either. After all, they were supposedly endangering their entire world. She at least took a little comfort in the knowledge that her family wouldn't reject her, nor Luke. Of course, it would probably be even more tricky to see him without their families giving them hell for it, but as long as he accepted her as she was, she felt ready to take the risk.

She closed her eyes and thought of Luke, the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at her, the mischievous smile he often gave her, his dark hair that tickled her neck when she rested her face in his shoulder... her heart ached as she thought about him. She missed him more with each passing moment, as well as her family. She wondered if they'd be permitted to attend the Dispelling. The thought of dying without being able to see them one last time was even worse than the pain of their absence. She tried to imagine how she would feel if the situation was reversed and someone she loved was about to be Dispelled. She didn't think she would be able to stand it. She did her best not to think of how devastated her mother had to be feeling at the moment. Or how scared Hazel most likely was. Her father and Gideon would be hiding their feelings, but she knew they would be worried too. She turned over again, and closed her eyes, her weariness finally letting her fall into unconsciousness.

Katie was woken several hours later by a sound in the distance. She turned, trying to go back to sleep, but after ten minutes, she knew she wouldn't be able to. Like before, she had no way of knowing how much time had passed, aside from the darkness peeking through the small window in her cell. She glanced around her. Aside from her stiff body, there was nothing new about her surroundings. The dim lighting, transparent glass door, the silence... everything was exactly the same. She winced as she sat up to stretch her arms and legs. She was just leaning into the wall with a sigh, when the sound reached her ears again. She first thought it was probably just guards upstairs when it came steadily closer overhead. She listened more carefully. It was muffled, so she couldn't tell what the sound was exactly.

The guard outside her cell seemed to have heard it too, because he got to his feet. Katie got up and peered through the hole. She watched the Guard as he stepped into her field of vision. However, he was standing with his back to her and the light was too poor for her to make out his features. She didn't even know if it was still Ronald or not. Deciding it was probably another guard taking over, she didn't pay any further attention to it and tried to think of something that didn't feel like sandpaper on her heart. The list of things that included was pretty short. She had her back to the wall, so she didn't have to watch the guards switch places, and probably make more comments about her or what she'd done. No, what they believed she'd done. Because all she had done was try not to get killed. But trying to tell the Council that was like trying to talk to a brick wall. They were asking her questions, but not listening to the answers she was attempting to give them.

"Hey, what..."

Katie's head snapped up as the voice reached her ears. It was really faint, and sounded like it was coming from upstairs, close by.

Okay, something is definitely going on up there... Katie told herself.

As soon as she thought that, an icy feeling shot through her. What if it was the Red Cloak, coming to finish what they'd started in the alley? She fought to keep herself from shaking, though with the memory of the alley still etched in her mind's eye, it was no easy task. She got to her feet too, watching. Several long moments passed in silence, the guard outside waiting, Katie standing very still, her heart thundering in her chest. Then, slowly, a shadow came into view in the stairs, a faint sound of footsteps following it. For a few seconds, Katie couldn't help thinking it was remarkably stupid to just march down somewhere full of guards like the Council... then, she realised if it really was the Red Cloak, then they probably believed it wasn't necessary to be careful. They were more than powerful enough to get through guards, if the incident in the alley was any indication of their capabilities... Katie's heart beat even faster, if it were possible, and she felt her body shudder as the shadow grew larger and the footsteps came nearer.

"Hey! Who goes there?" the guard called.

There was no answer, but the movement didn't slow. Katie suddenly saw the guard sway and crumple to the floor. Gasping, she flew to the glass, watching as he fell. She held her breath a few seconds, waiting for him to breathe. Fortunately, he soon did. Exhaling with relief, she suddenly tensed again as the shadow came into view. There was nothing but a long dark cloak, hiding their face and body. Katie's eyes widened and she stepped back, her breathing heavy and short. She couldn't take her eyes off the stranger as they crouched down by the guard and pulled the keys off his belt. Then, slowly, as though savouring the moment, he found the right one and slipped it into the lock. Katie was now standing with her back to the wall, trying to keep her fear from showing. The newcomer pushed the door open and stood on the threshold.

"... What do you want?" Katie demanded, only just managing to keep her voice from trembling.

To her great surprise, the stranger's only answer to her question was to burst out laughing.

"... What...?" she whispered, more to herself than to him.

"You should see your face," the stranger said, a smile in their voice.

It was male, from what Katie could hear. She was about to ask what was so funny about her being scared, when he lowered his hood.