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“Lucas, do you recognize these photographs?”
“Objection!” Olivia cried. “How can we be sure these images are authentic?”
“Counselors, please approach the bench,” the judge announced.
Verla and Olivia went up to the judge’s stand. They spoke in low whispers, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Eventually, Olivia frowned and went back to her seat with a sour look on her face.
“Let the record show that these case files were supplied by the Miriamic Police Department,” Judge Calloway said.
Verla turned back to me and continued. “Lucas, where have you seen these bodies before?”
I looked at the jury, but they were hard to read. “We found them in the Pinewood graveyard, the night Nadine and Chloe were kidnapped.”
“Thank you,” Verla said, before moving on.
She brought up evidence file one-six-six, which was the voice recording of Stella’s death. I winced as I listened to her dying screams all over again.
“Lucas, is that you in the recording?” Verla asked.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“And what is happening here?”
“We were looking for the Alchemy Wand, which we found in the basement of Wicked Alchemy. It was protected by a magical plant called twisted vine. Priestess Stella followed us and admitted to brewing nightshade in an attempt to find the Wand herself. The Wand was hidden inside a magical cauldron, and you had to brew a specific potion to retrieve it. Nightshade was the product of the potions she’d hired Magnus Knight to brew for her.”
“Objection!” Olivia protested. “Where is the evidence?”
“Sustained,” Judge Calloway said. “The defense may proceed.”
Verla stood tall as she asked, “In this recording, it sounds as if you hit Priestess Stella with a killing spell. Is that what happened?”
“No,” I stated. “The recording is missing pieces. What you’re not hearing is Priestess Stella’s confession and how we wanted her to be given a fair trial. You don’t hear that the spell I cast was a stunning spell—not a killing spell. You don’t hear that the twisted vine grabbed her and crushed her to death, and you don’t hear us scrambling to save her. Priestess Stella’s death was an accident.”
“Lucas, you tried to tell this truth the night of the Burning, isn’t that correct?” Verla asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “Four innocent women were accused of producing nightshade that night. We had the recording of Stella’s confession, and we tried to tell the coven the truth, but the priestesses wouldn’t let us.”
“Objection, your honor!” Olivia demanded. “The priestesses are not on trial here. We don’t know that these women were innocent like he claims.”
“Sustained,” the judge said, but her tone was difficult to read. I couldn’t tell where she stood on this whole trial.
Verla turned back to me. “Lucas, if you had the recording that night, how did the priestesses get their hands on it?”
“We made a deal,” I admitted. “Nadine went to the Imperium headquarters that night to meet with the priestesses. They threatened to have us arrested, along with our friends. In exchange for our lives, we were forced to hand over the Alchemy Wand, the magic cauldron, and the recording. The priestesses forced us to release a statement in the Miriamic Messenger saying we’d lied about Priestess Stella’s involvement with nightshade.”
“You were hesitant to hand over these artifacts?” Verla asked.
I drew a deep breath and answered the way we rehearsed. “Yes. We believe the Oaken Wands are dangerous in the hands of the presiding priestesses, but we were given no choice. We made the difficult decision to hand them over, in order to live long enough to protect the coven from further threats.”
The priestesses looked angry, but they didn’t outright protest. They still appeared confident that the jury was on their side. I shot a glance at the jury, and I was certain the priestesses were right. After everything Nadine and I had said, the jury wasn’t swayed. They thought we’d made it all up.
“Did anything else happen that night?” Verla asked.
“Yes. I had followed Nadine to the Imperium headquarters, because I worried she was in danger. After she left and told me what happened, I turned back to confront the priestesses about their threats. That’s when I saw the portal.”
The priestesses went pale simultaneously. It was the first they’d ever heard that we knew anything about the demon. Leto narrowed his gaze at me, like he could force me to take back the confession. I kept my eyes on him, never once backing down.
“A portal to where?” Verla questioned.
