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I shuddered at the reminder, because I hated what I’d done. Our second semester, Chloe and I had gotten into a fight so bad that she’d been sent to the infirmary.
“Don’t act like such a saint—you tried to kill me, too,” Chloe continued. “Maybe I deserve to be on this stand, or tied to the pyre, but you deserve to be right there with me, Nadine. I wasn’t the only mean girl at Miriam College. You were a closet bully hiding behind a mask, trying to play the part of the good girl who was sweet and kind, but really, you wanted to be in control and act like you knew it all. You had to make me pay, and you damn well made sure I did. You didn’t have to take things that far, but you wanted to. You hurt me, too.”
Her words sliced into me like a knife. Back then, I only thought I was defending myself, when really, I was just hurting her.
“I’m sorry, Chloe,” I said honestly. “You’re right. I was a mean girl, even if I didn’t intend to be. I take full accountability for what I did, and I wish I could take it back.”
Chloe placed a hand over her mouth as her shoulders began to shake. Tears streamed down her face. If it had been any other moment. I’d have thought Chloe was crying to manipulate the court. But it was clear that these were honest-to-Goddess uncontrollable tears that she couldn’t hold back.
“It doesn’t matter what you did, because Charlotte’s right,” Chloe sobbed. “I’ve done so many bad things—terrible things that are unforgivable. Maybe I should just stay here in the Abyss. This is where I belong, being tortured like all these other people. It’s what I deserve.”
“No, Chloe,” I insisted. “If you think that way, then your sentence is already determined. But we don’t have to sit here defending ourselves. We need to be working together, just like you and I did when we broke our curse.”
“Let’s face it,” Chloe said. “The night you broke our curse, you won. You’re the one who’s going to stay in the coven, because you actually have a place there. My friends hate me. I’ve cut off my family, and I have nothing left to go back to.”
“That’s not true,” I told her gently. “Chloe, you have us. We may not have gotten along in the past, but you and I know how to work together to get shit done. You belong with us, searching for the Oaken Wands so we can restore the coven’s magic. And when that’s all over, we want you to stay, because you’re our friend.”
Chloe sniffled. “You don’t want to be my friend. You’ve kept me close and used me to get the Oaken Wands, because you need a Mentalist on your side and I’m your only option. Once we get the Wands and save the coven, you’re going to toss me aside and abandon me, because you won’t need me anymore.”
“That’s not true,” I insisted. “I want to be your friend, and you know why? Because I admire you, and I look up to you. You’re strong and confident in a way that I want to be. I’m sorry I was mean to you. There’s no excuse. Neither of us needed to do that to each other, but you showed me that we can choose to change, and I want to be there to see who you become.”
I turned to Charlotte. “You said your Seers know all our regrets?”
She nodded, like she wasn’t sure where I was going with this.
I looked back at Chloe. “That’s how I know you’ve changed. They wouldn’t know all these things about you if you didn’t regret it. It doesn’t matter who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong if the behavior on both sides is hurting everyone. We need to take action to benefit the community and not just defend ourselves. So please, Chloe. Stay with us and help us make that change.”
Chloe wiped her eyes. “Do you really think people can change, Nadine?”
“I know they can,” I told her gently.
Chloe shook her head. “But I haven’t paid for what I’ve done.”
I stood and reached for Chloe’s hand. “I think you’ve suffered enough.”
Chloe hesitated, then took my outstretched hand and stood.
The crowd erupted into protests. “They can’t do this! Lock ‘em up!”
Chloe turned to the crowd. “Nobody here needs to be locked up, or burned, or tortured. You can all return to Alora?—”
A rotten cabbage smacked Chloe in the face, cutting her off. “Nobody who comes here is getting out!” a villager yelled.
Lucas stood, and Grant and Talia followed suit. Lucas lifted his chin. “We are. Because we might not be innocent, and we did make mistakes, but we are willing to forgive each other.”
The shackles around our wrists rattled as they sprang open and clanged to the ground. The townspeople gasped, like they’d never seen such a thing happen.
A smile crept across Stella’s face. “I believe this case is closed. You are free to go.”
She smacked her gavel, marking the end of the trial.
“Pft,” one of the townspeople scoffed, waving his hand. “They aren’t worth it. This trial was boring, anyway.”
The townspeople quickly lost interest in us and dispersed. Stella and Charlotte approached us as soon as the townspeople were gone.
“I’m deeply sorry we had to treat you that way,” Stella apologized.
Charlotte shared a look of regret. “I had to push you in order for you to proclaim your innocence.”
