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“Priestess Margaret, can you describe for the jury what we are looking at here?” Olivia asked.
Margaret shifted in her chair. “This is a photograph of Nadine’s secret headquarters. A few nights ago, we were alerted by an anonymous source that Nadine Evers and Lucas Taylor had formed a group they call The Coven’s Shield. They were headquartered inside Miriam College of Witchcraft, in an old storage room. With the help of the Miriamic Police Department, we were able to break through an unauthorized ward and find this secret room, which contained articles written in secret code with messages detailing how The Coven’s Shield planned to infiltrate and destroy the Imperium Council from within.”
More lies.
“Objection!” Verla yelled. “Where is the evidence?”
Olivia smirked proudly. “Please bring up evidence number two-six-two.”
A new image came on the screen. It showed a photocopy of our first article written in The Shield. Words had been circled, and there were scribbles all over the page, showing our message decoded. I got a nervous twinge in my belly, but I realized there was nothing damning here. The message simply encouraged a meet-up. It said nothing about standing against the priestesses.
“Can you describe what we’re looking at?” Olivia asked Margaret.
The priestess sat up proudly. “This is one of the articles the Miriamic Police Department was able to decode.”
More lies. I recognized Onyx’s handwriting. It was her copy she’d left in the Gravestone.
“The Coven’s Shield is the same organization that released anonymous articles under the name Caesar Peppertrine and distributed them around town, correct?” Olivia asked.
Margaret nodded firmly. “The very one.”
“Objection!” Verla insisted.
“Overruled,” the judge said.
“No further questions, your honor,” Olivia said, before sitting down.
Verla stood with her notepad to begin her cross-examination. She paced confidently in front of the witness stand. “Priestess Margaret, you mentioned that you were present at every council meeting, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Margaret said.
“Who else was present at these meetings?”
“A council meeting includes a priestess from each Cast, so there were five of us at each meeting,” she answered. “That would include myself, Priestess Lilian, Priestess Charlotte, Priestess Stella—Miriam rest her soul—and Priestess Nadine. Upon Priestess Stella’s death, Claudia Sinclair began attending our meetings as an interim priestess until her induction next Halloween.”
“Were there any meetings that took place without all five Imperium members present?” Verla asked.
Margaret nodded. “Yes. Being a priestess is a full-time job, and there were times when Nadine’s class schedule interfered with our meetings and coven events. We did our best to work around her busy class schedule.”
She was trying to look like a hero. They purposely scheduled meetings at times I couldn’t come—or blatantly omitted the invite altogether.
“Is it possible, then, that when you claim Priestess Nadine objected to certain council measures, it was due to the fact that she was not given complete information on the subject matter, due to not being present at previous meetings?”
Margaret tilted her head, like she didn’t understand the question. It was all for show. “We briefed Priestess Nadine on all council matters and made every effort to keep her in the loop. Her protests were merely—”
“A simple yes or no would suffice,” Verla interrupted.
“No,” Margaret answered.
Verla pursed her lips, but quickly moved on. “Priestess Margaret, you mentioned that Priestess Nadine often refused to perform spells with you, due to her chronic illness, and that she would make demands to obtain a cure through a kidney transplant. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Margaret answered, leaning closer to the microphone to drive her point home.
“Are you aware of Priestess Nadine’s diagnosis?” Verla asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you state her diagnosis for the jury?”
